


Coldhearted

by Sand_wolf579



Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotionally Repressed, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Frozen AU, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, The Light Wins AU, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24708958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: Cameron wasn't a heartless or cruel person, but he pretended that he was. Because he was a villain, and that was how villains were expected to be.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Cameron Mahkent, Artemis Crock & Dick Grayson, Artemis Crock & Wally West, Artemis Crock/Cameron Mahkent, Cameron Mahkent & Oliver Queen
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this story four years ago, I'm just only now putting it over from fanfiction.net to AO3. A big part of my motivation for moving it over now is because I'm planning on writing a sequel story, and I would definitely want to put that on this site. Of course, to have a sequel story on here, I need the first one up first.
> 
> This story is heavily based off of Frozen, but I did try really hard to make it its own thing too, more than just a word-for-word retelling of Frozen. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Because I wrote this story so long ago, the writing style may be different from the sequel (when I get around to writing it). I didn't want to rewrite this story though, as I've read through it and still enjoyed it just fine. I just thought I'd point that out.

It had been five years since the fall of the Justice League, and the world was a completely different place.

Everybody remembered the day it happened. Many of the more powerful villains had gathered together in an attempt to claim the world as their own. They were strong and the entire Justice League had stepped up to try and stop the threat. The league fought battles like this all the time. What could go wrong?

This time... the villains won.

Defeated and weakened, the heroes were forced to retreat and go into hiding, lest they be destroyed. The victorious villains celebrated their retreat and took advantage of their absence to take control of their previously protected cities... and the world. Many of the villains realized they would need to be smart with this new-found power to keep it in their hands. If they tried to act the same way they usually acted in the past, against each other and only thinking of themselves, then the world would fall into chaos, with them at each other's throats all the time. With that distracting them, the Justice League or even the government could rise up and take it all back. That was the _last_ thing the villains wanted, so they put their differences aside, and agreed to work together to keep their power and the world under their control.

The group known as The Light took charge. With leaders such as Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul, Klarion the Witch Boy, and Vandal Savage, it took no time at all to split and separate the power and territories for the other villains. While everybody wanted power and control, The Light was careful in who they chose. It was very rare when they would leave a city in the hands of just _one_ villain, and instead chose a group of them for each area. It made it a bit difficult to find willing partners and those who could work and share their power, but the Light could be _very_ persuasive.

Not only did these groups need to be able to work together, though, they needed to be powerful enough to keep their city under control., while at the same time, willing to submit to the will of the Light. _That_ was the most important part.

Perfect examples of this were the twin cities of Central and Keystone, found in Missouri,. These two were being controlled by the Rogues. They were probably one of the best and well working groups of villains, since they were used to working as a team _long_ before the take over.

Another prime example is that of Star City. This Californian Metropolis was ruled over by Sportsmaster and Icicle Sr. Both worked well together in ruling their city ruthlessly, causing great fear in their citizens... but that wasn't so much of an achievement any more. Many cities since the takeover felt the same way towards their own controlling villains.

The world had become a place of crime and fear since the fall of the League. It had changed completely in the span of just five short years.


	2. Chapter 2

Artemis Crock was only six years old, and she was already fully aware that life was hard and unfair.

Almost every single day, Artemis had to suffer through some kind of training from her father as he taught her how to be an assassin. That day, it had been endurance training. Artemis' father, Lawrence Crock, though he was better known as Sportsmaster, had woken her early that morning to begin training. Sportsmaster was tough with his daughter and hadn't let her stop or take a break until she could do the training exercise perfectly.

Artemis was young, but she was also skilled and eager to show her father that she could be as good as he wanted her to be. Better, even. So, despite the long hours of training, Artemis didn't complain. All day long she worked, yet it wasn't until well into the night did she finally do the exercise just right.

Artemis was a tough girl and didn't like seeming weak, but when her father told her that she could be done for the day she actually breathed a sigh of relief. It was late, she had been working hard all day, and Artemis was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to collapse on her bed and sleep.

Artemis walked back to her room where she planned on doing just that, but just as she was climbing into her bed she happened to glance out the window, and what she saw filled her with excitement. Just seconds before, her thoughts had been solely on sleep. Now, she had only one thought going through her head.

' _I_ have _to tell Cameron about this.'_

Exhaustion all but forgotten, Artemis slipped on her warmest jacket and crept out of her room. Silently and carefully, because she knew that her father would not approve if he caught her, she made her way down the hall, towards her friend's room.

Cameron was probably the one consistently good thing in Artemis' messed up life. He was the son of Icicle, and since Icicle and her father worked so closely together, Artemis and Cameron had spent a lot of time together. And, despite the two-and-a-half year age difference between them, they had become best friends.

Artemis loved being around the older boy, and they used to hang out all the time whenever they weren't training. Lately though, that had been happening less and less. Ever since the day that Cameron had turned eight, his father had begun training him harder and expecting more from him. Cameron's training became longer, and he had less and less time afterwards to spend with Artemis. And even on the days that he did have time, he often just didn't have the energy to play with her because he was so tired from his training.

Occasionally though, the children had days off. It didn't happen often, but there were times when both of their fathers had to leave for a day or two, usually to accomplish a mission that The Light had given them. Whenever this happened, Artemis and Cameron had their time just for themselves.

More often than not, those kinds of days were spent just walking around Star City, pretending that they were just normal children, with normal lives. They didn't have to worry about hard training sessions or disappointed fathers. It was just the two of them in a world of their own.

Artemis loved those days more than anything, and what she had in mind for that night was something like that. She and Cameron, outside, with no worries or concerns. It was risky to go out now though, because their fathers were still around, and they would surely be in huge trouble if they were caught. But Artemis thought that it would be worth the risk. Now she just had to convince Cameron of the same thing.

Upon reaching her friend's room, Artemis grabbed the doorknob, only flinching slightly at the cold feel of the metal, and opened the door. The room was dark and cold, like it always was, because that was how Cameron liked it. Artemis tiptoed to Cameron's bed where he was laying with his back to her. She didn't know if he was asleep or just ignoring her, either way she was going to get his attention.

"Cam, are you awake?" Artemis whisper shouted.

"No." Was the mumbled response.

"Come on, get up!" Artemis shook the boy's shoulders. Cameron groaned and rolled over to look at Artemis.

"What do you want?" He asked tiredly.

"I want to go out." Artemis proclaimed. Cameron rolled his eyes and rolled back over again.

"We can't. Our dads are still around." He said.

"So?" Artemis frowned. Their dads being around just meant they had to be more careful, not that they couldn't do it at all.

"We'll get caught." Cameron said, as if it were obvious. "Besides, it's late, and I'm tired. Whatever you want to do, it can wait until tomorrow."

Artemis pouted and crawled onto the bed where she jumped on top of Cameron. "It can't wait." She said energetically.

"Why not?" Cameron groaned. Artemis smiled and whispered two words that she knew would catch Cameron's attention.

"It's snowing."

Cameron turned his head and looked at Artemis, looking for a sign that the girl was bluffing.

"You serious?" Cameron asked hopefully but dubiously.

Artemis frowned. "Of course I'm serious."

Now this he just had to see. Cameron shoved Artemis off his back and ran to the window. He pulled the curtains away and stared at the small white flakes that were falling slowly from the sky.

"It really is snowing." Cameron said in awe.

"I told you so." Artemis said smugly. She tugged at his arm. "Now can we _please_ go play in the snow?" She asked impatiently.

Cameron smiled down at her. "Absolutely." Artemis squealed in excitement, and Cameron laughed. "But we have to be really quiet though, right? Because we don't want to get caught."

"Right." Artemis nodded seriously. If there was one thing Artemis was really good at, besides using a bow and arrow like no other six year old ever could, it was being stealthy. Cameron had just reminded her to be quiet more for his own benefit than hers, because he could be pretty clumsy sometimes.

Sneaking out went off without a hitch. Artemis, more confident in her stealth skills, beat Cameron outside, though he wasn't too far behind. Once outside, they didn't have to worry about being as careful and quiet, because it wasn't likely that their fathers would see or hear them from all the way inside. The risk of being caught gone for the moment, the children let themselves get excited about the falling snow.

Artemis giggled and ran into the flurry. She spread her arms out and twirled around. Cameron didn't do anything. He was more than content to just stand there and watch Artemis have fun as the snow fell around them. Besides, when he was standing still more snow landed on him, and Cameron absolutely loved the feel of snow on his skin.

Cameron loved everything about snow. It was like ice, except softer. More gentle. He could just sit for hours doing nothing but watching the snow fall, and he totally would, except for the sad fact that it just doesn't often snow in Star City.

Cameron had lived in Star City his whole life, and he had only ever seen it snow a handful of times. The climate was just too warm for it to snow more than once or twice every few years. And it always melted really quickly. So if Cameron wanted to see snow, he had to take what chances he could get.

Cameron lost track of time as he stood watching the snow fall. After a while, one snowflake caught his eyes more than the others. Intrigued, Cameron watched it as it slowly fell. As it came closer to him, Cameron held out his hand and let the snowflake land on his palm. He had expected the snowflake to melt quickly, like snowflakes often did when they fell on bare skin. To his surprise and fascination, the snowflake didn't melt at all. It kept its perfect one-of-a-kind shape.

"Wow." Cameron muttered in awe. He called out in a louder voice. "Hey, Artemis, come here. You gotta see this!"

Artemis came running back to Cameron. "What? What is it?" Cameron slowly held out his hand to show Artemis the small snowflake. The girl looked amazed.

"You caught a snowflake." The girl said. "That is so cool! I want one." Artemis stuck out her hands in an attempt to catch a snowflake of her own. Many landed on her skin, though they quickly melted away. Artemis frowned. "Why can't I get one?"

"your hands are too warm." Cameron said. He took his hand that the snowflake wasn't occupying and put it on Artemis' hand. She flinched at the touch.

"Your hand's cold." She whined.

"Yeah, because of my powers. It makes my body colder than yours." Cameron explained. "I guess my skin is cold enough to hold a snowflake."

"Wow." Artemis said, her disappointment about not being able to hold a snowflake for herself all but gone. Artemis stared at the snowflake in Cameron's hand for another minute before her face brightened with an idea.

"Wait, you can hold snow." Artemis said.

Cameron blinked. "Uh, yeah."

"And you can make ice." Artemis continued.

"...Yes." Cameron said hesitantly. He wondered why she was stating the obvious. Just what did she have in mind? "So what?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "So, can you make it snow?" She asked, as if the conclusion was obvious. Cameron frowned and looked at the falling snow.

"Uh, I don't think so." Cameron said. Now Artemis was frowning too.

"Why not? Ice and snow are almost the same thing." She said logically.

"But they're still different." Cameron said. "Ice is hard and solid, while snow is soft and flimsy. They're too different."

"But they're both just different forms of water, right?" Artemis pointed out. "So they're kinda the same thing. You should at least be able to control snow a little bit, right?"

Cameron cursed how smart Artemis was. He could see how she would come to this conclusion. Logically, it made sense for him to be able to control snow. But, somehow, Cameron knew that he wouldn't be able to. Controlling ice came naturally to him, he had been born with the ability, but he still had a really hard time handling his powers. They were unpredictable, and Cameron really didn't want to even think about how much worse it would be if he tried to control snow.

"I don't think it works like that…" Cameron began.

"How would you know? Have you ever tried to control snow before?" She asked.

"Well, no, but…" Cameron tried to explain, but Artemis didn't listen.

"Then how do you know you can't do it?" Artemis asked. "You should at least try it once. Please?" Cameron wanted to say no. He wanted to tell Artemis that he wasn't good enough with his powers to even think about trying to control something other than solid ice. He wanted to tell her that he was just too tired from the days training to use his powers right now.

But he couldn't. Cameron could never bring himself to say no to Artemis. He didn't want to disappoint her, show her how weak he really was.

"Yeah, okay." Cameron muttered. He still thought this wasn't a very good idea, but if Artemis wanted him to try it, then he would try it. He would do anything to please her. Cameron took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to stop thinking about all the doubts he still had. He ignored how tired he was. All Cameron did was focus on the cold chill in the air, the cool touch of snow on his skin.

A moment later Cameron could feel his hands become cold, colder than they usually were. A short while later Cameron felt a tickling sensation that began at his fingertips and down to the rest of his hands. He didn't even have to open his eyes to know that what he was feeling was frost.

This was a good sign, as frost was kind of part ice and part snow, which meant he was heading in the right direction to making pure snow. It was slow progress though, much slower than just making ice, and more difficult too. A lot more difficult. Cameron was already beginning to sweat from the effort, and all he had to show for it was a pair of frost covered hands.

It was frustrating. By this time he could normally have not just his hands, but his entire body covered in ice, and with very little effort too. And yet he had to work so hard to cover his hands in frost, which was still a type of ice. Cameron's doubts about being able to make snow began creeping back.

"Arty, I-I don't think I can do this." Cameron said. He hated to admit it, but it was true. He was a cryokinetic, which meant he had power over ice, not snow. And that wasn't about to change.

"Yes, you can." And the sheer belief in that girl's eyes just made Cameron more determined to succeed. Sure, _he_ didn't think he could do it, but there were a lot of things Cameron doubted he could do. Artemis though, she looked up to him and thought that he was capable of anything. She believed in him when nobody else, not even himself, did. And Cameron, he would do absolutely anything if it would make her happy. And if that meant continuing to try to make snow, then fine, he would do it.

Cameron continued his attempt at making snow, though he was trying even harder than before. Five minutes later the frost had progressed to his elbows, but it was still just frost, not snow, and Cameron physically couldn't try any harder. After years of training with his father Cameron had learned that his powers had limits, and he had reached them. He was still sweating and, despite the winter air and cold frost covering his arms, Cameron felt slightly warm, which, for him, was not a good sign at all. On top of that he had a headache and his hands were beginning to shake.

Cameron couldn't continue trying to use his powers when he was in this condition. He had to stop, before things got any worse.

"Artemis, this isn't going to work." Cameron said quietly. He lowered his arms and slouched forward.

"You're giving up?" Artemis asked, a look of pure disbelief on her face. "But you're so close."

"No, I'm not." Cameron said.

"Yes, you are." Artemis huffed. "You're just not trying hard enough."

Cameron clenched his fists at those words that he hated oh so much. His dad said them to him all the time, and now Artemis was too. It just wasn't fair. He was trying. He was trying as hard as he could. Just because his attempts weren't good enough to meet other people's expectations, it did not mean that he wasn't trying. And Cameron really hated it when someone said so. He hated it, because it just reminded him that, no matter how hard he tried, he just _wasn't good enough._ Not for his dad...and not for Artemis.

"I'm trying as hard as I can, but I can't do it!" Cameron shouted in frustration.

"Okay, maybe you can't do it now." Artemis admitted reluctantly. "But this was just your first time trying. Next time you'll be able to-"

"No!" Cameron was close to tears now and his headache worsened. He didn't understand. He wasn't strong enough to make snow, that much should have been obvious. So why couldn't Artemis see it?

No, Cameron knew why Artemis couldn't see it. He knew that she saw his powers as a magical thing. She was young. Naive. She didn't understand that his powers had limits. Normally Cameron loved that Artemis admired him blindly and believed he could do anything. Tonight though, it just confused and angered him.

Cameron _knew_ that he wasn't good enough to do this, and probably never would be. And yet Artemis was still insisting that he could. Her belief and (somewhat) encouraging words just made things worse because he wasn't going to get any better, and the longer Artemis believed in him, the more disappointed she would be when she saw the truth. That he was nothing more than just a pathetic, wimpy loser.

"Cam, are you okay?" Artemis asked, her voice full of concern. She reached out and touched Cameron's arm in an attempt to offer some comfort to him. But Cameron didn't want her comfort or pity. All he wanted was for Artemis to leave him alone.

"GO AWAY!" Cameron screamed and shoved Artemis away to get out of her grip. A very strange sensation passed through his fingers as his hands made contact with Artemis' shoulders. It felt kind of like when he blasted ice beams, but different. Cameron didn't think anything much of the feeling, until he saw Artemis fall to the ground.

Cameron's anger and frustration turned into confusion and concern. Why had Artemis fallen? She had great balance, and Cameron hadn't even pushed her that hard. Maybe strong enough to force her back a few steps, but not to the ground. And even if he had used enough force to knock her down, she would have immediately gotten up again. So why was she still just on the ground, lying there...not moving?

"A-arty? Are you okay?" Cameron asked. Artemis didn't even flinch, let alone respond. Cameron's concern grew. He knelt down next to Artemis and shook her shoulders to try to get a response from her. Nothing.

"Come on, Artemis. This isn't funny." Cameron begged. "Please, wake up." His voice cracked at the end, because he knew that Artemis wasn't sleeping or messing with him. She was unconscious, and Cameron didn't understand how or why. He really hadn't pushed her hard enough to hurt, and she hadn't even hit her head on the ground. She had just fallen unconscious, and Cameron had no idea what to do about it. The only thing he could think to do was to take Artemis to somebody who might.

"Hang on, Arty." Cameron whispered, though he knew that Artemis probably couldn't hear him. "I'm gonna get you some help." Cameron gently picked up Artemis so he was holding her in his arms. He then headed back inside to where their fathers were, with the hope that maybe one of them would have a better idea of what to do.

Cameron knew that he'd probably be in huge trouble for being up still, but at the moment he really couldn't care less. It didn't matter if he got in trouble or not. Artemis' safety was the only thing that was important.


	3. Chapter 3

Back in the house, Joar Mahkent and Lawrence Crock were in the office, trying to find a solution to a problem they had discovered was growing in Star City. The citizens of the city, they had noticed, were becoming rebellious, even more so than usual. It wasn't a secret that the people were not happy about being ruled over by villains, though fear usually kept them from acting up. In Star City though, the rebellion of the people was beginning to get stronger, and the two of them knew they had to do something to stop it before things got out of hand.

Before they could come up with anything though frantic knocking on the door interrupted them. Joar scowled, extremely annoyed at the disturbance. He went to the door and threw it open, prepared to give whoever was bothering them a piece of his mind. Joar didn't know who he had been expecting to see outside the door, though it certainly hadn't been his son.

"Cameron, what are you-" Joar growled, but he stopped when he saw that his kid looked exhausted and was holding an unconscious Artemis in his arms. "What the heck happened?"

"I-I don't know." Cameron stammered and looked at the ground. Lawrence by this time had joined them at the door to see what the father and son were talking about. Lawrence's breath caught in his throat when he saw his daughter and the state that she was in.

"Artemis!" Lawrence grabbed his daughter away from Cameron. He didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was concerned like he normally would. Because, at the moment, he wasn't Sportsmaster or some villain. He was just a father, and his little girl was hurt.

At least, Lawrence was pretty sure she was hurt, because why the heck would she be unconscious if she wasn't? Physically though, Artemis seemed fine. There were no bruises or scratches to even indicate an injury. She didn't even have a bump on her head or dilated eyes, so Lawrence doubted it was a concussion. The only thing that seemed to be wrong with Artemis was that her skin felt much colder than it should.

While Lawrence was looking over his daughter, Joar was just trying to get a straight answer from his kid. But no matter what question he seemed to ask, Cameron's only response was a mumbled 'I don't know', and that just wasn't good enough of an answer.

After getting one too many vague answers from Cameron, Joar had had enough. With one hand Joar grabbed Cameron's wrist to keep the boy from running off. Joar's used his other hand to force his son to look him in the eyes. Joar was about to ask, yet again, what happened, but stopped because he realized that he didn't have to ask, he already knew.

Joar could feel that Cameron's hand was cold, covered in frost, and shaking. But at the same time, Cameron's face felt warm and slightly damp with perspiration. Which meant that Cameron had been pushing himself too hard...again.

"You were using your powers." Joar said. It wasn't a question, he already knew it to be true.

"His powers?" Lawrence growled, an angry fire in his eyes. "That's what did this to Artemis?"

"We don't know that." Joar tried to point out, but Lawrence wouldn't hear it.

"Her skin is freezing cold, and it's not warming up!" Lawrence shouted. "How else would you explain it?"

Cameron bit his lip and hung his head to try to hide the tears that were beginning to fall again. "I-I didn't-" Cameron whimpered. "I didn't mean to. I-it was an accident."

Accident or not, Lawrence was absolutely furious. His daughter may not have looked too injured, but he could tell that she was in bad shape, and all because some brat didn't know how to control himself. Lawrence barely knew what was wrong with Artemis, let alone how to help her. And if anything happened to her because of this little _accident,_ Lawrence would not hesitate to kill the kid responsible, and Joar knew it.

"Lawrence, calm down." Joar barked before his partner could do anything. "Getting angry won't do anything to help Artemis."

Lawrence glared at Joar. "Well then, what will?"

Joar stepped closer to Lawrence and Artemis so he could examine the girl's condition himself. Since it was likely that Cameron's powers had been what had caused this, Joar had expected to find some evidence to show it, but there wasn't any. The was no ice on her body, or even cold scratches from a sharp icicle. She really was just cold.

But it was an unnatural type of cold, that much was for sure. The poor girl wasn't even shivering, which she should be considering how cold her skin was. Joar liked to think that he was knowledgeable about ice and the effect it had on people, but this...Joar hadn't seen anything quite like this before. All he knew was that Artemis likely wouldn't be able to survive for long with such cold skin, he just didn't know how to fix it.

Joar doubted that any normal attempt to warm her would do any good. She was made cold by more unnatural means, so it made sense that they would have to warm her up in a similar manner, which none of them were capable of doing. Which meant that they needed to take Artemis to someone who was capable of it. Someone who was familiar with the unnatural and unexplainable.

"We need help." Joar muttered thoughtfully, but reluctantly. He hated asking for help, from anybody. Joar had no problem ordering people to do something, and he was fine with working in a partnership with somebody else. But actually straight out asking for help, admitting that he _needed_ help, was not something that Joar liked to do.

But they didn't really have a choice on the matter.

"We need to take Artemis to somebody who actually has the ability to heal her." Joar said. Lawrence narrowed his eyes.

"Ability? You mean someone with powers?" Lawrence scowled. "I'm not letting my daughter anywhere near another meta-human."

"And who I had in mind isn't one." Joar said. "He's not a magic user either. Not exactly. But from what I heard, he is a healer."

"Heard?" Lawrence raised an eyebrow. That didn't exactly sound too reassuring. "Just who are you talking about?"

"His name is Raymond Begay, though he prefers to be called Brave Bow." Joar said. "He is an old indian chief that lives in the mountains nearby. Mostly he just seems to keep to himself, but he may be willing and able to heal Artemis."

"...And how do you know this?" Lawrence asked.

"You know how long I've been here in Star City. I've made it my business to know as much as I can about anything or anybody of interest in or around the city." Joar said.

""You always were a bit of a control freak like that. Always needed to know just what assets you had before you." Lawrence said. "But are you sure this guy can help Artemis?"

"No." Joar admitted. "But unless you have a different idea, we don't really have much of a choice, do we?"

"No, we don't." Lawrence looked down at the little girl lying in his arms. Taking her to the Brave Bow guy seemed like a long shot, but it was the only shot they had. Lawrence sighed. "You'd better know where we're going."

"It's not very far from here." Joar assured Lawrence. He then turned a cold, warning look to his son. "We'll have to go quickly though, so you'd better not slow us down, kid."

Cameron blinked, shocked that his father had basically said that he would be going with them. Cameron hadn't expected that. He thought that his father would order him to stay behind, and normally, that would be exactly what Joar would do. This time though, Joar knew full well that if they left Cameron here, then he would just follow them anyways. So Joar decided that it would be better to just let the kid come with them in the first place. That way, he would at least be able to keep an eye on his son, keep him from getting into any more trouble.

Because God knows that the last thing they needed that night was any more trouble.

The journey to the mountain, which stood just outside the city limits, was not a long or difficult one. However, it still seemed much too long a trip to Lawrence. The cold air of the night was doing nothing to improve Artemis' condition. In fact, the colder the weather got, the colder Artemis' skin seemed to become.

At one point, Lawrence became so desperate to do anything that might help his daughter that he did the only thing he could think of. Lawrence took off his coat and wrapped it around Artemis, shielding her from the cold.

"Hang on, baby girl." Lawrence muttered. "We're almost there."

They reached the mountain shortly after that, though their journey wasn't quite over yet. Joar knew that Brave Bow lived on the mountain, but not the exact location. He wasn't sure of how high up the mountain he lived, or on which side. Joar wasn't concerned though. It was a small mountain, and he suspected it wouldn't take too long to find the man.

His suspicions were correct. Not long after they got to the mountain the group found the old Sioux Chief sitting next to a small fire near a cave in the mountainside. He didn't seem surprised to see them, almost as if he had been expecting them. However, he did not seem very pleased about their visit, which was understandable. Nobody liked being visited in the night by villains.

"What are you doing on my mountain?" Brave Bow asked, his eyes full of suspicion toward his visitors.

"Trust me, we're not any happier about being here than you are." Lawrence said. "But we didn't know where else to go. We...we need your help." Lawrence looked down at his daughter lying in his arms. Brave Bow followed Lawrence's gaze, and his eyes softened slightly.

Brave Bow came closer and put his hand against Artemis' skin. "This girl has been touched by magic."

"It's not magic." Joar growled, but he was ignored.

"Can you help her?" Lawrence asked desperately.

"I may be able to." Brave Bow said, "But to help the girl, I must first know what is causing her to be this way." Suddenly and without warning Brave Bow took a small knife from his belt and nicked Artemis' skin with it.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!" Lawrence cried out furiously. Brave Bow seemed oblivious to his anger.

"See for yourself." Brave Bow held out his knife, which now had a small amount of blood on it. Upon looking closer at the blood, Lawrence noticed that it did not look quite normal. Almost as if it wasn't as fluid like as blood should be. Artemis' blood looked like it was in a semi-frozen state, which just wasn't possible. Blood wasn't supposed to freeze, not like this.

"What's wrong with her?" Lawrence asked in a quiet voice.

"Her blood is slowly being turned to ice." Brave Bow said. "If this is not reversed, the ice will spread and your daughter will freeze from the inside out." Lawrence shuddered and held Artemis tighter.

"Alright, but can you stop it?" Joar asked. Brave Bow sighed.

"I can try." He answered. Brave Bow gently took Artemis from Lawrence's arms and took the girl inside the cave. Not knowing what else to do, Lawrence sat by the fire, waiting, hoping that his little girl was going to be okay.

Joar, who wasn't as bothered by the cold weather as Lawrence was, just sat on a rock a little further from the heat of the fire. Cameron, who hadn't said a word since they left, lay down on the ground next to his father. It didn't take long for Cameron, who was likely physically and emotionally exhausted by the night's events, to fall asleep.

Joar watched his son as he slept, and was slightly amused to see that the falling snow seemed to be attracted to Cameron, almost as if the kid were a magnet for the cold. Even when he was asleep, Cameron seemed to have more potential for his powers than Joar had first imagined. This excited Joar, and he longed to see just what Cameron could be capable of someday. At the same time though, all the kid's untapped potential made Joar nervous. Very nervous.

Like, with what happened early that night to Artemis. None of them had been aware that Cameron could ever do something like this. Freezing somebody's blood? It seemed way beyond the capabilities of an eight year old. And yet, Cameron had done it. Sure, it had been unintentional, but that almost made it more dangerous. Nobody, probably not even Cameron, knew how he had done it, so who was to say that he wouldn't accidentally do it again?

Lawrence had been thinking in a similar way. He had always thought that it was risky, letting his daughter be around Cameron while the boy was still learning how to control his powers. Tonight was just proof of how risky it was. Joar had once told Lawrence that it would likely be years still before Cameron learned to control his powers, and emotions, properly. Until then, he was just a danger to anybody around him, and Lawrence wasn't about to let anything else happen to Artemis. Not while he could help it.

"Joar, we need to talk." Lawrence said.

Joar sighed and made sure that Cameron really was asleep before answering. "I know." Joar said. He had a feeling he knew what this talk was going to be about.

"I'm just going to get right to the point here." Lawrence said. "I don't want your kid anywhere near Artemis anymore."

"You can't blame Cameron for what happened tonight!" Joar growled. "It wasn't his fault, and you know it."

"But it still happened." Lawrence glared at Joar. "Your kid can't handle the powers that he already has, let alone the ones that we both know he'll discover as he gets older. And as long as he can't control himself, I don't want him near Artemis. I will not let her be in danger like that."

Joar said nothing. As much as he hated to admit it, Lawrence was right. While Cameron was getting better at his powers, he still lost control at times. Especially when he was emotional. And Cameron was never more full of emotion than he was whenever he was anywhere near Artemis. It was obvious to Joar that Cameron really cared about Artemis, which was dangerous, and not just because of his powers, but because that was just how the world was now.

A world being run by ruthless villains was a dangerous one to live in. The only way to be safe was if you were one of the ruthless villains in charge. That way, you would be the one ruling, rather than the one being ruled over.

The thing was, Cameron wasn't ruthless or heartless, and Joar doubted he would ever be. If anything, Cameron was, by nature, shy, kindhearted, and sensitive, and those just weren't good traits to have. Not if somebody wanted to survive in the world the way it was now. And Joar was going to make sure that Cameron survived, even if he had to bring down his kid's spirits to do it.

This is why Joar agreed with Lawrence. Maybe it would be best that their kids didn't see each other anymore. Artemis wouldn't be in danger of potential ice attacks. And Cameron, without having Artemis around as a distraction, may have better luck getting a handle on his emotions and, in turn, his powers.

"You know the kids aren't going to be happy about this." Joar pointed out. That was an understatement. Cameron and Artemis would surely hate being kept from each other.

"They'll have to get over it." Lawrence said, and that was the final word on the matter. Neither of the villains said another word. The two of them just sat in silence. It was only when Brave Bow came out of the cave with a still unconscious Artemis in his arms did the still silence break again.

"Artemis!" Lawrence stood up and immediately took his daughter back into his arms. He didn't need to ask if Brave Bow had succeeded in healing her. Just by feeling Artemis' skin, which had been so cold earlier, Lawrence could tell that she was better. She was by no means warm yet, but certainly not as cold as she had been before.

"The girl will need rest, but she will be fine." Brave Bow said. Lawrence nodded his thanks and held his little girl tighter. He had been so worried that he would lose her, but he hadn't. Artemis was alive, and she was going to be fine.

"I should get her home." Lawrence said because, even though her blood wasn't freezing anymore, Artemis was still quite cold and needed to get warmed up.

"Go." Joar said. He himself was planning on staying up on the mountain a bit longer. He had some things that he needed to think about. And later, when Cameron woke up, the two of them had things that they needed to discuss, alone.

The night was dark and quiet, the only sound being that of the falling snow hitting the ground and the wind. And, because Lawrence had headed back down the mountain and Brave Bow had retreated back inside his cave to find shelter from the cold, Joar was alone with his thoughts, and he was just fine with that. Between ruling over Star City and training Cameron, Joar didn't often have a moment's peace to just think. It was nice.

Joar simply sat there until the sound of Cameron groaning and shifting on the ground alerted him that his son was beginning to wake up. Cameron tiredly opened his eyes and blinked in confusion at his surroundings. He was still only half awake, and the events of the night hadn't caught up to him yet. Joar scoffed at his son's confusion.

"It's about time you woke up, boy." Joar said gruffly.

"Dad, what...where-" Cameron began, but his question trailed off as he remembered what had happened. "Artemis!" Cameron's eyes were wide, all signs of fatigue gone. "Where is she? Is she-"

"Your friend is fine." Joar answered. "Her father took her home already."

"She-she's okay." Cameron breathed a sigh of relief. "I want to see her." Cameron stood up, but Joar grabbed his arm, stopping him from going anywhere.

"Hang on, Cam, I need to talk to you." Joar said with softer tone than he usually used.

Cameron froze. His father never spoke to him that way, and very rarely did his dad call him Cam. Because of this, Cameron knew that his dad was completely serious and likely had something important to say.

"About what?" Cameron asked hesitantly.

"Things tonight got out of hand, Cameron." Joar said. "We can't let something like this happen again."

"It won't." Cameron swore.

"You can't promise that." Joar said. "The whole problem with you losing control of your powers is just that. You lose control. You can't help what happens, and you become a danger to yourself and everybody around you."

"I-i don't try to." Cameron stammered.

"And that is exactly the point!" Joar growled. "The only way to fix this is for you to have complete control over your powers, at all times."

Joar gave a small sigh. "And until that happens, me and Lawrence think it would be best for you and Artemis to not be around each other."

"W-what?" Cameron's eyes widened.

"You heard me. You and Artemis cannot be around each other anymore." Joar repeated. "That means no more training together. No more sneaking out when you think we aren't paying attention. Nothing."

"But-but Artemis is my friend." Cameron protested. "I can't just...you can't do this, dad! Please!"

"Cam, listen to me." Joar put his hands on Cameron's shoulders and knelt so that he could look Cameron in the eye, because he needed his kid to understand. "You lose control of your powers when you're emotional, and you are never more emotional than you are when you're near Artemis. If she's around you when you lose control, she could get hurt again, just like tonight, except next time, we may not be able to fix it. The only way to prevent any of this from happening is for you two to not be around each other at all, understand?"

Cameron looked at the ground and bit his lip. Slowly, Cameron nodded. He was obviously devastated at the thought of not being able to be with Artemis anymore, and he didn't want to avoid her. But, more than that, he didn't want Artemis to get hurt because of him again.

"So you'll stay away from her?" Joar said. Cameron nodded again and Joar internally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good." Joar lightly squeezed Cameron's shoulder before standing up. "Now, let's get home before it gets too late." Joar began to walk back down the mountain, with Cameron following closely behind him, sniffling quietly.

Joar said nothing as they went. He didn't scold Cameron for crying, nor did he offer his kid comfort. Joar knew perfectly well that Cameron was upset, and probably would be for a while. That much was to be expected. Joar doubted that Cameron would ever get over losing his friend, and Artemis likely wouldn't either.

Someday, though, Joar hoped that the kids would understand why this had to happen.

because there wasn't another way.


	4. Chapter 4

Seven years. That was how long it had been since the night that Cameron had accidentally frozen Artemis' blood. Seven long, torturous years of absolute hell.

Cameron lay on his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. The hour was late, yet he had no plans for sleeping any time soon. Cameron had a lot of things on his mind, and sleep just wasn't a priority for him at the moment.

As he thought, Cameron absentmindedly sculpted a piece of ice he had in his hands. He didn't carve or cut at the ice, like people normally did when they made ice sculptures. Because of his powers, Cameron was easily able to mold the ice almost like it was clay. He didn't look at what he was sculpting, simply because it didn't matter. He didn't do this to make pretty pieces of art. He did it to keep himself focused.

A few years ago Cameron had discovered that ice sculpting was a good method of keeping his powers under control. Whenever Cameron felt overwhelmed, which was beginning to happen more frequently as he grew older, he would ice sculpt. It gave him something harmless to do with his powers, which significantly decreased the chances of him spontaneously blasting shots of ice at anything that moved.

Besides, it gave him something to do with his hands, which kept his mind from wandering too far. If he began to feel trapped by his thoughts, all he had to do was focus on what the ice between his hands and he'd forget about whatever he was avoiding thinking about. Cameron knew that it probably wasn't healthy for him to avoid his thoughts like that, but he continued to do it because it was a much better alternative than finding himself thinking about something that he really, _really_ didn't want to think about.

Like the fact that Artemis had come by to talk to him earlier that night.

... _Shit._ Now he was thinking about it again.

It wasn't fair that Cameron still had to deal with this. For seven years he had done what he was supposed to do and stayed away from Artemis. Cameron had done his best to ignore and avoid her, because he knew that that was what it took to keep her safe...from him. The trouble was, Artemis didn't seem to understand this. One would think that after seven years of doing this, Artemis would take the hint and leave him alone, but she didn't. No matter how Cameron treated her, she continued to come around.

Now, that wasn't to say that Artemis came by to see him _every_ night, because she didn't. In fact, there had been a handful of times where Cameron didn't hear from Artemis for a few weeks. But no matter how much time passed between her visits, and no matter how upset she was when she returned to her own room, Artemis always eventually came back around. It was infuriating, but also oddly predictable.

Over the years Cameron had discovered that Artemis had fallen into a type of cycle with her visits. During the first step of the cycle Artemis would come to Cameron's room and basically do the same thing she did when they were younger, before this whole mess happened. She would ask if Cameron wanted to train together, or sneak out, or basically just hang out.

Cameron didn't much like this first phase simply because he had to say 'no' to Artemis, and that was always hard. The more he did it though, the easier it became...yeah, no, that wasn't true. Cameron still hated to say 'no' to Artemis.

After a few days Artemis would realize that Cameron didn't want to hang out, or leave his room at all. At this point, she would begin the second phase of just sitting outside Cameron's room (because he never let her in anymore) and talking to him. That was it. She just talked with him, tried to strike up conversation, even though it was usually just one-sided.

Cameron liked this phase because, well, he liked the sound of Artemis' voice. Sadly, the second phase couldn't last forever. Eventually, Artemis would become irritated with Cameron's lack of proper responses and she would grow angry, which would begin the third, and usually longest, phase.

This phase always began the same way, with Artemis yelling at him. After venting her frustrations at him for a bit, Artemis would finish up with calling him a coward and then she would leave and not return while she was still upset. Often, Artemis would stay angry with him for a while, usually at least a week, sometimes more.

Surprisingly, this was Cameron's favorite part of the cycle. He actually didn't mind Artemis yelling at him. Cameron was so used to having people yell at him and point out his faults that it barely phased him anymore. As for not hearing from Artemis for about a week, Cameron actually looked forward to this part.

Sure, he didn't necessarily _like_ that Artemis was avoiding him, but Cameron was glad that she did. Simply because it was a lot easier to avoid interaction with someone if they couldn't stand being around you.

Eventually though, Artemis would calm down and begin visiting Cameron again, which began the fourth and final phase of the cycle, which was Cameron's least favorite.

Basically, Artemis would stand outside Cameron's room and apologize for getting angry. She would talk about how she knows he must be going through some hard times, but she wants him to know that she would always be there for him. After going on for a bit Artemis would conclude by saying that she could tell he needed some space, and then Artemis would leave him alone for a few nights, only to come right back with phase one again, repeating the cycle.

Cameron absolutely hated this last phase because Artemis just sounded so sincere and understanding, but also _extremely_ vulnerable. Cameron hated hearing the guilt in her voice as she talks to him, as if she thinks this whole thing was her fault. It wasn't though. _None_ of this was Artemis' fault. Cameron was the one who messed everything up, and yet Artemis was apologizing for it.

Cameron could tell that Artemis blamed herself for this whole mess happening, even though she didn't even understand what the whole mess was, and Cameron felt extremely guilty about it.

That was why Cameron was still awake, despite it being the middle of the night. Artemis had come by earlier that night in her apologetic phase, and Cameron hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since.

As Cameron lay in his bed, trying to think about anything other than Artemis, he heard the sound of his door opening. Without even looking, Cameron knew exactly who it was. There was only one person who came into his room anymore.

"Bit late for a visit, don't you think, dad?" Cameron smirked and sat up. He effortlessly hid his ice sculpture behind his back. It wouldn't do for his dad to see him moping around. Cameron's smirk turned into a frown when he saw the serious expression on his dad's face. "What's wrong.

"The Justice League," Joar growled. "They're causing trouble in Gotham. The Light is sending me and Sportsmaster out to help take care of the heroes."

"Y-you're leaving?" Cameron asked. He cursed his slight stutter, though his dad didn't seem to notice it.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be for too long though. A few days, maybe." Joar said. "You think you can handle being in charge for that long."

"Wait...what?" Cameron blinked. "You're not serious."

"Would I joke about something like this?" Joar glared at his son. "You're fifteen now, Junior. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to handle the city by yourself for a few days."

"Me, in charge." Cameron could barely believe it. Really though, he should have seen something like this coming. Obviously his dad was using this opportunity to test Cameron, to see if he had what it took to rule a city, even if it was just for a short period of time. "You know, I doubt The Light is going to be happy that you're leaving some kid in charge of one of their precious cities."

"The Light can deal with it." Joar scowled. "Honestly, they have no right to be upset with who I choose to run the city temporarily. Especially not when they're making me leave on such short notice."

"So, you're leaving tonight?" Cameron asked, though he was pretty sure of the answer.

"As soon as possible." Joar confirmed. "I just needed to tell you we were going first."

"Yeah, I'd probably freak out if I woke up in the morning and you guys were just gone." Cameron said honestly.

"You'd have to be asleep first before you can wake up." Joar said. "Why are you still up anyway?"

Cameron stiffened at the question, but tried to answer the question casually. "I just couldn't sleep, no big deal." Cameron shrugged as if it were nothing, but Joar knew it wasn't nothing. Cameron may have gotten better over the years at hiding his emotions, but Joar knew his son well enough to see through his facade.

"Come on, Junior, we both know that's not the truth." Joar snapped, causing Cameron to flinch slightly. "Now, what's going on with you?" Although, by the way that Cameron was avoiding his gaze, Joar knew exactly what was going on. "It's Artemis again, isn't it?"

Cameron groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Can we please not do this right now?"

Joar huffed in annoyance. "Alright, what did she do this time?"

Cameron moved his hands away and actually glared at his father. "Artemis hasn't done anything, and she never has!" Cameron defended fiercely. He then lowered his gaze to the floor and scowled. "She's just being herself, nothing I can do to stop that."

Joar scoffed. "Nothing you can do to stop your feelings for her either, right?" Cameron frowned and stayed silent, which was more than enough to serve as confirmation for Joar.

"You really do care about Artemis, don't you?" Joar crossed his arms sternly. Cameron didn't answer right away, but Joar could be a patient man when he wanted to be, so he waited. Finally Cameron sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I tried not to." Cameron said quietly. "I swear, dad, I tried so hard to not feel this way about her. I thought that these feelings would just go away or something, but they didn't. If anything, they just got worse."

Joar chuckled. "Yeah, because that's what happens when you care about someone. You don't just stop caring for them just because it's inconvenient for you. If you're lucky, those feelings may fade away in time, but they could also just grow stronger, which I suspect is what happened with you."

Cameron stared at his dad cautiously. "But, you're always telling me that villains can't have emotions."

Joar shook his head. "No, I'm always telling you that we can't _show_ our emotions, there's a big difference. It doesn't matter how you feel or who you care about, as long as you conceal it. You can feel whatever you like, but you can't let it show."

Cameron frowned. "That sounds like the worst advice ever."

"Tough luck." Joar shrugged. "I'm serious though. You can't let anybody know about your feelings towards Artemis. The other villains can't know about this, and Artemis _definitely_ can't know, understand?"

"Yeah, I get it." Cameron said. Showing emotion was a sign of weakness, and villains couldn't be weak. "You sound like you have experience with this whole 'hiding your emotions' thing." Cameron hesitated before continuing. "What, do you have someone that you care about?" Cameron expected to, at the very least, get yelled at for asking such a question. His father didn't even scold him though, he just looked amused.

"Yeah, you could say that." Joar smirked slightly and shook his head. It amazed him how dense his son could be sometimes. "Well, I'd better go find Lawrence. We gotta get to Gotham before those heroes cause too much trouble. Joar turned and began to walk out the door.

"Dad, be careful." Joar froze at the obvious concern in his son's voice. "I mean, these heroes have been in hiding for more than ten years and suddenly strike up an attack? I just...I have a bad feeling about this."

"We defeated these heroes once, no reason we won't do it again." Joar said with fake confidence. In all honestly, he too had a bad feeling about the heroes' reappearance. As much as he hated to admit it, The Justice League was smart, and they worked as a team, which was more than most villains could say. The Justice League wouldn't have started a fight if they didn't have a plan, and that's what Joar was worried about.

Joar turned his head to look back at Cameron. "Things will be fine, Cam. I promise." He left before Cameron had the chance to say anything else.

He just hoped that things really did turn out fine.

* * *

Artemis took in a shuddering breath as she walked slowly down the all too familiar hallway. Earlier that day, she and Cameron had gotten news from Gotham. At first, Artemis had been glad. Their fathers had left for Gotham a week before and still hadn't returned. Artemis had been beginning to get nervous, and she knew that Cameron was just getting more and more anxious. They were both worried that something had happened. The news that they got from Gotham only confirmed that something _had_ happened. Something bad.

...Their fathers weren't coming back. Ever.

The battle with The Justice League had apparently been much worse than anybody had anticipated. Half of Gotham city had been destroyed, and many people had died. Including, it seemed, the entire Justice League, which was the majority of the world's heroes. All of the villains that had been involved in the battle had died as well, including Icicle and Sportsmaster. Cameron's father, and her own.

They were dead.

Artemis wasn't sure how she felt about her father being dead. On one hand, he was a jerk. Her dad always expected too much from her and rarely showed any kindness. When she had been younger, Artemis had had the delusion that they could still be a happy family. As she got older though, Artemis had come to recognize that her father never treated her like a daughter, but like somebody to train to be the perfect assassin.

So, yeah, Artemis didn't exactly miss him at the moment, but she wasn't happy that he had died. Yeah, she didn't like her dad very much, but she did still love him. He was her father, after all, no matter how much he didn't act like it.

Artemis' feelings were conflicted, but she really didn't care. She would sort out her own emotions later. For the moment, she was more concerned on how Cameron was taking this whole ordeal.

Cameron had always had a, if not good, than decent, relationship with his father. Artemis couldn't imagine how he was handling the news of his father's death. Probably not well, all things considered.

Artemis stopped walking when the reached Cameron's room. The door was closed, as it always was. Artemis could see signs of frost and ice on the sides of the door, which indicated that Cameron had frozen the door shut from his side.

Alright, fine, Cameron obviously didn't want anybody in his room. So what else was new? She didn't have to see him, she just had to talk to him. Artemis took a deep breath and knocked three times on the doors cold surface.

"Cameron? Come on, I know you're in there." Artemis said because, honestly, where else would he be? "Look, I know that you're upset about what happened" Yeah, that was an understatement. Artemis groaned. She wasn't good at this whole comforting thing.

"But, you know that I'm here for you, right?" Artemis leaned against the door. "I mean, it's just me and you now, Cam. We're all each other has anymore-" Artemis' voice trailed off as she began to sob lightly, her own emotions getting the best of her. Artemis slid down to the ground and sat against the door. Artemis hugged her knees to her chest and cried into them.

On the other side of the door, Cameron sat in a very similar position. Cameron hugged his arms around himself and drew his legs close. He couldn't stop his body from shaking, neither could he stop the tears that had started falling from his eyes.

Neither of them had ever felt so alone in their life.


	5. Chapter 5

Artemis took in a steady breath. She brought back her arm, tightening the bow string. Artemis shut one of her eyes, took careful aim at her target, and released her grip on the arrow. Artemis watched with a smirk as her arrow flew straight into the center of her practice target.

"Bullseye." Artemis said. Satisfied, Artemis nocked another arrow and prepared to shoot again. Artemis was just about to release the arrow when-

"Not bad shooting there, kid."

Artemis flinched as she released the shot, which caused her aim to be slightly off. Artemis sighed in frustration when she saw the arrow embed itself just at the edge of the center of her target. Artemis turned and glared at the person who had thrown her off.

The blonde woman that was standing in the doorway of the training room raised her hands defensively. "Oh, come on, Arty, you can't seriously blame me for that missed shot." The woman lowered her hands and smirked slyly. "After all, you're supposed to be a trained assassin. A small distraction shouldn't be able to throw you off so easily."

Artemis scowled and stomped to the targets to collect her arrows. Sadly, the woman was absolutely right. "What are you doing here, Lisa?"

Lisa Snart, A.K.A Golden Glider, crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway. "Lenny thought that Junior would need some moral support for today."

Artemis frowned and was about to ask what was so special about today when she remembered. It was Cameron's 18th birthday today, meaning he was now an official adult. For the last three years Cameron had still only been standing in as ruler of Star City, but now, by The Light's standards, he was old enough to actually run the city. But, before The Light would let that happen, they first wanted to make sure that Cameron would be up to their standards, which was why they were coming...today.

"Great, and, what, you just decided to tag along?" Artemis asked Lisa, who smirked.

"I always do." It was true. The past few years, Lisa and Leonard Snart and been making regular visits to Star City. Leonard Snart, or, as Artemis knew him, Captain Cold, had become Cameron's new ice mentor. And Lisa, she just tagged along for the fun of it.

"I'm not the only one who came either. Most of us Rogues came along today." Lisa said. Artemis looked at Lisa with wide, slightly panicked eyes.

"What? Why did the others come?" Artemis asked. Over the years she had grown accustomed to being by herself. She still, of course, longed for Cameron's company, or even any friendly company at all. Visiting villains were not friendly company, and Artemis hated being anywhere near them. Even the tamer villains, like The Rogues, still made her skin crawl. She never knew what to expect from them.

Lisa's smirk softened slightly. She knew how Artemis felt about being around other villains. "It's not just us either. A lot of people are coming here." Artemis groaned and harshly yanked out the last of her arrows from its target. "But you know, you don't have to be around when they get here."

"What are you talking about?" Artemis asked. Lisa's eyes glistened mischievously.

"There will be villains coming in and out of this place all day. Unless your citizens are idiots, they'll stay inside to avoid danger, leaving the city free." Lisa said. "If anyone asks where you've gone, I'll cover for you."

Artemis smiled and thanked Lisa before running out of the room to go change. Even if there wouldn't be anyone else on the streets, Artemis wanted to wear something a little less inconspicuous. In her room, Artemis carefully put her arrows awa before changing out of the green outfit that she wore every time she practiced. Artemis put on some more comfortable, regular looking clothes and, as a final touch, took out her ponytail and let her hair down.

Looking at herself in the mirror Artemis was satisfied with her appearance. Obviously, she still looked like herself, but, fortunately, Artemis wasn't exactly well-known in the villain world. Sure, lots of people knew _about_ her, but they just knew that she was Sportsmasters daughter. Not much else. If anyone saw her, civilian or villain, at first glance they wouldn't recognize her for who she was. Not unless they knew her really well.

And not many people did.

Sneaking out of the house was easy enough to do. She had done it a million times before, and a couple of Rogues in the house did little to make it any different from any other time, though she did have to make a small detour to avoid running into Pied Piper and Trickster, who were surely up to something. Once outside Artemis was glad to see that Lisa was right. The streets were entirely empty, not a soul was in sight. The city was hers.

Artemis lost track of time as she wandered around the city. She spent part of the time climbing up onto the roofs and looking down at the city from above. Artemis spent the majority of the time on the ground though, just walking casually down the streets, taking in the sights of her city that she barely knew.

The city was empty, and silent. It first, it had been strange for Artemis, to be in the middle of a large city and yet for it to be so quiet, but she grew used to the silence quickly, even if it was a little unnerving. As Artemis neared a street corner she heard a strange sound that made her stop where she was. It almost sounded like a car. No, more like a…motorcycle.

Artemis stared in shock as a motorcycle came speeding around the corner, heading right her way. Artemis jumped out of the way while the motorcyclist swerved to avoid hitting her, which caused the motorcycle to crash into a building instead, throwing the rider off.

"Ow. Okay, that was so not fun." The motorcyclist groaned.

"Yeah, you think?" Artemis growled. Her heart was still racing intensely from the experience. Her elbow hurt, because she had scraped it pretty badly when she had fallen to the ground.

"You okay over there?" The motorcyclist asked.

"You mean other than the fact that I almost died? Yeah, I'm fine." Artemis snapped.

"That's good." The motorcyclist said, sounding really relieved. He reached up and took off his helmet. Artemis' jaw dropped when she saw just how young the rider looked. He couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen. The kid had black hair and kind, dark blue eyes. Artemis was slightly alarmed to see an underlying sadness hidden behind those eyes.

The kid came over and offered his hand to help Artemis up off the ground. Artemis frowned and swatted the hand away. She was perfectly capable of getting up on her own. The boy didn't seem bothered at all about Artemis' rudeness.

"It's lucky that we both have such quick instincts, or that could have been a disaster, heavy on the dis." The boy said playfully.

"We wouldn't have needed luck if you weren't going so fast in the first place." Artemis pointed out. The kid smirked at her.

"True, but the same would be true if you hadn't been standing in the middle of the road." He said. "Really, it's like you were begging to be run over."

Artemis bit her lip, because the kid had a point. She had been standing in the middle of the road, but she had only been doing that because she didn't think that anybody would be coming down these streets. The way she had seen it, there hadn't really been any danger in walking in the street. That's why she had done it, and it felt nice to be doing something that would normally be too dangerous...come to think of it, that was probably the exact reason why the kid had been speeding too.

"Yeah, I guess we were both being idiots." Artemis admitted.

The kid shrugged. "Hey, it happens to everyone. My name's Dick, by the way. Well, actually, it's Richard Grayson, but my friends call me Dick." He held out his hand again, and this time, Artemis accepted it.

"Artemis Crock." She introduced herself. Dick froze.

"Wait. You're Sportsmaster's daughter?" Dick asked.

"Uh, yeah?" Artemis braced herself, preparing for the worst.

"Cool." Was all Dick said. Artemis blinked. Cool? What kind of reaction was that?

"You seem to be taking the news of my father being a supervillain rather well." Artemis said suspiciously. Dick shrugged.

"I'm used to being around villains." Dick said.

"Why would a kid like you be involved with villains?" Artemis asked.

"Same reason as you." He said. "My, uh, dad is ruler over Gotham."

"Gotham?" Artemis frowned. Weren't all the villains in Gotham killed in the incident three years ago? And Artemis was pretty sure that none of them had any kids. "Just who is your dad?"

"Bruce Wayne." Dick said. Artemis stared. Now, that name she recognized, and she knew that Bruce Wayne was no villain.

"I didn't know he had any kids." Artemis thought aloud. "And just how did Bruce Wayne become ruler of Gotham?"

"Well, technically speaking, I'm his ward." Dick said. "And The Light put Bruce in charge three years ago after the...The Incident." Artemis did not miss the pained look on Dick's face as he mentioned The Incident.

"But why? He's not a villain." Artemis pointed out. Dick smirked and shook his head.

"Yeah, he's not, but he is rich and well-known. He has a lot of power. Power that The Light would rather have working with them rather than against them." Dick said. "That's partially why The Light chose him. Another reason is because after The Incident there weren't any other villains that were familiar enough with Gotham."

"I guess that makes sense." Artemis muttered. In all actuality, it didn't, but who was she to question The Light's decisions? Speaking of The Light's decisions…

"It's getting kinda late. Don't you think we should be going?" Dick suggested. "I mean, we don't want to miss The Light's decision."

"Yeah." Artemis muttered. She was beginning to feel nervous. What would happen if The Light didn't think that Cameron was worthy to run Star City? Would Cameron and Artemis have to leave? And who would they pick to run the city instead? And what if it was decided that Cameron would be the one to run the city? Would he be able to?

Artemis set these thoughts to the side. Worrying wouldn't be doing anybody any good. Artemis and Dick began heading back to Artemis' place when she wondered just why he was coming in the first place.

"Hey, what are you coming for? What The Light decides has nothing to do with you." Artemis said. Dick shrugged again.

"I'm just curious." He said, but Artemis could tell that there was more. Dick was hiding something...whatever. Artemis doubted it mattered too much anyways. Besides, it made no sense to worry herself over why some kid was going to be around. Not when there were so many other backstabbing villains that she could worry about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the sake of this story, Ra's Al Ghul doesn't know that Bruce Wayne is Batman, none of the villains do.

The two teenagers reached the house without incident, and ended up parting ways shortly after they arrived. Dick gave some excuse or other, something about him having stuff he had to check up on, before he vanished from sight like a little ninja. Artemis didn't concern herself too much about it. Dick was a weird kid, that much was clear, but Artemis doubted that whatever he was up to was that bad, or something that she should worry about.

Artemis didn't even bother following Dick. She knew that he had likely gone into the main room, which was the largest room the in house, and probably filled with villains at this point. Artemis knew that she would have to go in there eventually, but she was planning on stalling for as long as she could before she did.

Artemis instead went upstairs. There was no reason for anybody else to be up there, so, if she was lucky, Artemis wouldn't run into anybody else. Of course, Artemis never took into account that she may not be the one who had had the same idea. So she was plenty surprised to see a young man leaning against the wall, and he looked just as surprised to see her.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked coldly. Artemis glared at him.

"I could ask you the same thing." She shot back defensively. "Besides, it's none of your business what I'm-" Artemis trailed off when she realized just who she was talking to. "Wait. Cameron?"

"Artemis?" Cameron looked about as shocked to be seeing her as she felt. Artemis couldn't believe she didn't recognize Cameron immediately, but, to be fair, she hadn't actually seen him properly since they were children. It was actually astonishing how little two people could see of each other when they lived in the same house. Sure, they caught glimpses of each other every now and then over the years, but that hardly counted.

Artemis was amazed by how different Cameron looked, yet, at the same time, how much he still looked the same. Cameron was obviously older now, taller, but still as skinny as he'd been when they were just kids. Somehow though, Cameron was able to pull off the scrawny look.

Cameron was also surprised at how much Artemis had grown. Especially in...certain areas. "Wow, babe, you've, uh...really…" Artemis saw where Cameron was gazing, and she was not happy about it.

"Don't be gross, Cam." Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. Teenagers could be so immature sometimes. Artemis couldn't bring herself to stay mad at Cameron though, not over something so petty, not when it had been years since the two of them had even interacted with each other.

Unable to contain herself, Artemis ran to Cameron and just hugged him. Cameron stiffened at the contact and Artemis could hear his breath quickened. Artemis wondered if she had done something wrong and was about to pull away when Cameron relaxed and returned the embrace.

"It's good to see you, Cam." Artemis muttered.

"Yeah, you too." Cameron said, and Artemis could tell that he meant it. Not for the first time, Artemis wondered if Cameron had missed her as much as she had missed him, and if so, why had he been avoiding her all these years? What had happened?

Their embrace lasted for a while longer before Artemis, who was beginning to feel a little awkward, pulled away. Cameron looked embarrassed, though Artemis couldn't tell if it was because they were seeing each other again, and it was really weird, or if it was because of how long the hug lasted...or maybe he was embarrassed at the fact that they hugged at all.

"So, uh," Artemis laughed nervously as she tried to think of a way to loosen the tension between them. "It was good to see you, again." Artemis mentally slapped herself. She had already said that. "And, uh happy birthday." Another slap. Could things be anymore awkward?

"Happy. Yeah, right." Cameron scoffed bitterly. "Because nothing says 'happy' like being judged by the people who rule the world."

"Cam…" Artemis wasn't sure what to say. What _could_ she say to that? Artemis was saved from trying to come up with a response when Captain Cold, who had, apparently, been looking for Cameron, found them.

"Junior, what are you hiding up here for? Don't you think you should be downstairs right about now?" Captain Cold asked.

"Yeah, whatever." Cameron scowled. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Fine, let's just get this over with." Cameron went to follow Captain Cold.

"Cameron, wait." Artemis said. The teenager paused and looked back at her. "Just...good luck." Artemis said. Cameron looked surprised for a second before smirking.

"Won't need it." He said before heading downstairs. Artemis stayed where she was and wondered what the heck had just happened. One second, Cameron had seemed nervous and unsure, then, the next, he was acting all cocky, like this whole thing was nothing more than a mildly annoying inconvenience.

"And they say girls are a mystery." Artemis shook her head. She didn't think she would ever understand Cameron, at all.

Artemis sighed and began to head downstairs too. She still didn't necessarily want to be around a bunch of villains, but, more than that, Artemis didn't want to be kept in the dark. If she wanted to know what was going on, she would have to be there to see for herself.

Artemis went into the main room which was, of course, full of villains. And every single one of them looked like they were up to something unpleasant. Artemis made her way into a fairly abandoned corner of the room. Artemis was honestly content with standing there, keeping an eye on their 'guests'. Just because she was in a room full of villains didn't mean she had to go interact with them.

"Gosh, don't you look like you're having fun." Artemis nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been pretty attentive, and yet she hadn't even noticed that that Grayson kid from earlier had snuck up on her. Artemis glared at him.

"Well, excuse me for not being able to relax around this crowd." Artemis scowled. "And what's with all the sneaking around?"

"It's fun." Dick said simply, as if it were obvious. "And if you really don't like being here, then why not just leave?"

"I did leave for a while." Artemis said. "But I had to return eventually."

"Well, yeah, but eventually doesn't exactly have to be right now, does it?" Dick pointed out. "Me and you can probably get out of here for a bit, come back before anything important happens, and nobody will even notice that we were gone."

Artemis considered it. Getting out of the room, away from everybody, did sound like a pretty appealing idea. "Alright." Artemis agreed. "But we have to be back before The Light decides anything. Got it?"

"Easy." Dick smirked. "It's not like we'll be going very far." Dick quickly grabbed Artemis' hand and, before she could protest or say anything, he pulled her out of the crowded room. Artemis didn't know where Dick was leading her, she didn't even know if he knew where they were going, but she willingly followed him. For some reason that she couldn't explain, Artemis trusted this kid.

Dick had been right when he said that the two of them wouldn't go far. He brought her up to the roof, and Artemis didn't bother questioning how he knew how to get up there so easily, she was just glad to be up there. Technically, they hadn't left the house, yet Artemis felt like she was suddenly miles away from all the villains and her problems.

"Wow, it's nice up here." Artemis said as she stared out at the city. "Tell me though, do you often climb to the top of buildings?"

"More often than you would think." Dick laughed. He sat down on the roof and gestured for Artemis to join him. She barely hesitated a second before sitting beside him.

"So I was right, you are a little ninja." Artemis joked.

"Nah, I've just always liked being higher up, even when I was a little kid." Dick said, a look of longing came over his face. Like he was remembering something that he had lost long ago and wouldn't never get back. "It's kinda like being separated from the world, you know? Like you're leaving all your worries and concerns back on the ground."

"Yeah, I get that feeling too." Artemis said. The two of them sat in silence for a bit before Artemis gathered up the courage to ask something she had been wondering for a while. "Hey, uh, earlier when we were talking, you seemed upset when you mentioned The incident. Why? Did-did you lose somebody that night?" At Dick's pained expression Artemis could tell that she shouldn't have asked. "Sorry. You don't have to answer if you-"

"No, it's fine." Dick cut in. He took a deep breath. "I did lose some people that night."

"Your parents?" Artemis guessed. Dick shook his head.

"No. My parents, they died before The Incident happened." Dick said. "That night though, I lost a couple of really close friends."

"What happened?" Artemis asked quietly.

"I don't really know." Dick said. "We-we got separated."

"So you don't know if they died?" Artemis asked.

"No, but everybody is always telling me that they're gone." Dick frowned.

"But, is that what you believe?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know!" Dick cried out. "I mean, I know that it's been years, and the chances of any of them surviving is next to nothing...but I don't want them to be dead." Dick just looked so lost and in pain that Artemis was reminded of how young he was. He was barely a teenager. That was way too young an age for a person to lose not only their parent's but their best friends as well.

Artemis wrapped an arm around Dick's shoulder and pulled him closer till he was leaning against her. Artemis wasn't able to do anything to take away his pain, but the least she could do was help him bare it. She may not know exactly how Dick felt, but she had an idea. She too had lost a parent and a close friend. True, she never was close to her father, and Cameron most definitely wasn't dead, but Artemis often felt like he was lost to her.

The two of them sat silently for a while and just took in the sights of the city. The evening air was cool and relaxing, and Artemis felt that she could stay up here forever.

"So, uh," Dick pulled away from Artemis and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Physical contact like this wasn't exactly something that he was used to. It felt kinda weird...but also nice. "When do you think you wanna go back down and join the others?"

"Is never an option?" Artemis scowled and crossed her arms.

"You not a fan of crowds?" Dick asked.

"Not when the crowd consists of a bunch of evil freaks that I know I can't trust." Artemis said. "Seriously, what are any of them even doing here? And, for that matter, what are _you_ doing here?" Artemis turned to Dick and glared fiercely at him. The teenager raised his hands defensively.

"Hey, there's no reason to turn on me. I'm one of the few people here that you can trust." Dick said. "But you're right to be cautious, considering why most everybody else is here."

"And why is that?" Artemis asked.

"Well, everybody, me included, came to see first hand what The Light's decision would be, though there is disagreement on what people want the decision to be." Dick said. "People like me and the Rogues, we want to see your friend Cameron in power."

"And why exactly would you want that?" Artemis asked. The Rogues, she understood. Captain Cold was their unofficial leader, and everybody knew that the ice themed villains stuck together and had each others backs. But what about Dick?

"Bruce wants Cameron to get the power because, if he doesn't, then The Light would have to choose somebody else to be in charge." Dick said. "A major turf war will ensue, with different baddies fighting each other to show that they would be the best alternative. The world's in enough chaos as it is, and the last thing we need is for the people running it to be at each other's throats...well, more so than usual."

"So that's why everybody's here." Artemis murmured. "Because they want the power that should be Cameron's." Artemis clenched her fists. She should've known.

"Don't worry, Cameron should be fine, as long as he keeps a cool-head tonight." Dick smirked. Artemis rolled her eyes. She had never found ice related jokes to be funny, just incredibly stupid.

"You're hilarious." Artemis said sarcastically. She sighed. "Well, we'd better get back down there before anything happens." She said begrudgingly. The last thing she wanted to do was return to where all the villains were, especially now that she knew that most of them really were up to no good. She had to though, to make sure nobody tried anything against Cameron.

"Yeah, we probably should." Dick stood up and stretched then offered a hand to Artemis to help her up. She took the hand and followed Dick's lead as he began climbing down from the roof.

"Cam had better be okay in there." Artemis muttered to herself. If anything had happened to that idiot, then somebody was going to pay... _dearly._

* * *

Cameron was not a people person, especially not when the people he had to be around were backstabbing, lying jerks. Cameron wasn't just being paranoid when he thought that at least half the people in the room wouldn't mind seeing him dead, or at least out of the picture so that they could get their shot at power.

For the past three years, ever since Cameron had been put somewhat in charge of Star City, he had known that everybody in the villain community, and likely outside of it as well, saw him as the weak link, and honestly, he couldn't blame them. He had only been fifteen! No villain in their right mind would trust a teenager to be in charge of anything...Apparently The Light hadn't gotten the memo.

They had been the ones to decide that Cameron could play the part of being in charge for a few years. Nobody had been very happy about the decision, but they didn't say anything or make a fuss because that would be going against The Light, and nobody wanted to do that. Besides, Cameron's position would only be a temporary one until The Light found somebody better, so it wasn't a big deal.

At least, that was what everybody had thought, until The Light had declared that they were considering putting Cameron in charge of Star City permanently. Nobody, especially not Cameron, had seen this announcement coming. Sure, nothing was set in stone yet, but after tonight it very well could be, which was why Cameron felt so anxious.

He tried not to show it though. He couldn't let any of these jerks know that they were getting to him. No, he had to play it cool, act natural. Cameron had thought that he was doing a fairly good job at hiding his anxiety until Len elbowed him.

"Stop tapping your toe so much." Len said quietly so only Cameron would hear. "You're starting to freeze the floor." Cameron started and looked down to see that Len was right, his toe tapping was causing a thin layer of ice to spread on the floor. Cameron bit his lip and stopped the tapping immediately. He hadn't even realized that he was doing it in the first place. He just hoped that nobody else had noticed.

A few years before Cameron had learned that he could generate ice not just from his hands, but from his feet as well. He didn't do it very often because he hadn't yet learned how to control the ice through his feet, hence why he was accidentally freezing the floor.

"Sorr-I mean, right." Cameron scowled, he was really not handling things very well. First off, tapping his toe and the ice on the floor were both clear indications that he was feeling nervous. Anybody would be able to tell that much if they bothered looking. As if that weren't bad enough though, he had almost apologized for it, which would have just made things much, much worse. One of the basic rules of being a villain is you don't apologize _for anything_. Losing control of his power would be a sign of weakness, but apologizing for it would be seen as an even bigger weakness. Villains were ruthless, cruel, and weren't supposed to feel sorry about it. If they made a mistake, they acted like it was on purpose.

Under normal circumstances Cameron could handle this type of situation, where he was watched at all times by people who were just waiting for him to slip up, with confidence. He wouldn't give anybody any reason to doubt his abilities. Tonight though, Cameron was off his game. He couldn't focus long enough to even begin to pretend he wasn't nervous. His thoughts were too occupied.

It was all Artemis' fault. Running into her before coming in here had really thrown Cameron off. He honestly hadn't expected any interaction with Artemis tonight and had been caught off guard. All the barriers that Cameron had been building up for the past ten years had collapsed the second Cameron had recognized Artemis and realized just how beautiful she had become over the years.

Cameron did his best to not let thoughts of Artemis crowd his brain, though it wasn't easy. It only got worse when Cameron had seen Artemis sneak off with some random brat. Ever since they had left Cameron had been too distracted with questions to concentrate on anything else. Questions like why weren't those two back yet? Where did they run off to? And who the heck was that kid? It had seemed like Artemis had known him, which just made Cameron more suspicious. Artemis never left Star City, and Cameron could tell that the kid wasn't from around here. So how did the two of them know each other?

Cameron got jerked out of his thoughts rather painfully when Len elbowed him again, except this time it was much harder.

"Ow! What was that for?" Cameron rubbed his now slightly sore shoulder and glared at Len. The older ice villain shook his head and gestured to the left, and he didn't look happy. Cameron frowned and looked toward where Len had indicated. What he saw made his blood run even colder than it usually did. There, heading in their direction, was Lex freaking Luthor.

Perfect...just perfect. This was the last thing Cameron needed right now. To have a one-on-one chat with a member of The Light. Cameron could tell that that was Luthor's intent. He could see it in the man's eyes.

"Ah, Cameron, there you are." Luthor said as he came up to them. Cameron frowned at the use of his actual name. When he was around other villains, or anybody that he wasn't especially close to, he prefered to be called by Icicle Junior. Yeah, it was a bit demeaning for a villain name, but if everybody else got to be called by their alias', then he should too. Cameron kept his mouth shut though. He knew that now was not the time to argue about this.

"I was wondering if you would come talk with me, man-to-man." The way Luthor said that, it was clear that he wasn't asking. Cameron knew that he wasn't going to get out of talking with Luthor, so he followed the man.

"So, Cameron. You seem a bit tense tonight." Luthor commented as they walked. Cameron felt his breath quicken. He had been hoping that nobody had noticed how nervous he had been all night.

"It's nothing." Cameron said evenly. Luthor raised an eyebrow. He obviously didn't believe Cameron's words.

"You know, Cameron, it is understandable that you are nervous." Luthor said, which made Cameron stop in his tracks. He couldn't have possibly heard that right. "After all," Luthor continued. "It is a dangerous position that you're aiming for. A position that many other people would also like. Older, more experienced people. You would have a big problem on your hands if those people turned against you."

Cameron clenched his fists and tried to keep a calm expression, even though on the inside, he was freaking out. Lex Luthor was trying to scare him. Now Cameron knew for a fact that one seventh of The Light _didn't_ want him in power over Star City. And Cameron was quite sure that he had just been threatened. He knew a veiled threat when he saw one.

"You won't have to worry about that." A new voice cut into the conversation. Cameron turned to see that they were being joined by Artemis and that kid she had run off with earlier. It was the kid who had spoken. "If Junior gets any trouble, we'll send help from Gotham."

"Oh, and why would you do that?" Luthor asked, and it was a viable question. The villains rarely made alliances with each other. Usually it was only done when all sides could benefit from it...but how would Gotham benefit from helping Star City?

The kid looked panicked at the question for a moment. He cast a quick glance at Artemis before he announced, "Because me and Artemis are engaged!"

Cameron's world froze, and everybody standing within fifteen feet of him noticed a sudden drop in temperature.

"You-you're what?" Cameron asked weakly. He didn't notice that Artemis looked as started at the announcement as he felt.

"Grayson, what the _hell_ are you saying." Artemis hissed.

"I'm sorry, Artemis, I know you didn't want to tell anybody yet." The kid said.

"We're not-" Artemis growled.

"How the heck did this happen?" Cameron glared coldly at the two younger teenagers. "I mean, you guys don't even know each other."

"Why are you getting so angry about something that's not even going to happen?" Artemis asked. "And, for your information, me and Dick do know each other."

"How?" Cameron crossed his arms.

"We met earlier today, and-" Dick began, but Cameron stopped him.

"See? You can't know somebody after just a day." Cameron said.

"Yes, you can, if you actually bother to talk to each other." Artemis snapped. Cameron's breath quickened. He knew that Artemis wasn't just talking about herself and Dick anymore. She was talking about what was going on between the two of them. Cameron suddenly became very aware of the fact that they were having this discussion in the main room, surrounded by villains who were listening to what they were saying, watching what they were doing. Cameron could feel himself beginning to sweat.

"Artemis, can we discuss this later?" Cameron lowered his voice. They couldn't talk about this now, not in here.

"What, so you can just run off and hide in your room like you always do? I don't think so." Artemis raised her voice, which just caught the attention of even more people. Cameron cast his eyes around the room to see that people were staring at them. Watching, waiting.

Judging.

Artemis was still talking to him, but Cameron barely registered her words. A feeling of panic came over him, overwhelming him. Cameron's thoughts were all jumbled up and he could barely understand anything that he was thinking. The only thought he understood was that he _needed_ everybody to _stop looking at him_!

"Cameron, are you listening to me?" Artemis asked sharply. She grabbed Cameron's arm to get his attention. Cameron flinched harshly at the touch. Instinct took over and Cameron shot a shard of ice at Artemis in defense. Thanks to Artemis' own quick instincts, she was able to mostly dodge the attack, though not completely. The ice blast scraped against her arm causing a cut.

Cameron's eyes widened at the sight of blood on Artemis' arm. He had hurt her. Again. Cameron shook his head and took a step back.

"Arty, I-I didn't mean-" Cameron felt sick to his stomach. Why couldn't he do anything right? "I'm so sorry, I-" Cameron froze when he realized what he had just said, what he had just done. He had shown everybody his weakness, his lack of control, and apologized for it. Basically, Cameron had just done everything that he was absolutely not supposed to do in front of these guys.

Cameron's head was pounding. He felt surrounded, trapped. Everybody was looking at him, judging him. Cameron couldn't take their looks anymore. He had to get out. He had to escape.

So he ran. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, that there was a better way of handling things. Cameron knew he was being a coward by running, but he didn't care. All he cared about was that he had to get away.

He couldn't handle it anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been nearly ten minutes since Cameron had run off, and Artemis was beginning to get worried. She hadn't gone after him when he had first ran off, nobody had. Artemis had just let him leave because it had looked to her like the last thing that Cameron wanted was company, and if he really couldn't handle being around people, then Artemis wouldn't force it. Instead, she planned on just waiting, giving Cameron the chance to calm down and come back on his own.

Except, now Artemis was beginning to have doubts. Cameron had seemed really upset when he ran off, as well as freaked out. It alarmed Artemis just how scared Cameron had seemed, and she had no idea what had caused this. She also didn't know what she could possibly do to help.

But she had to do something. She may not know exactly what was going on with him, but Artemis was determined to make sure that he didn't have to suffer through whatever it was by himself. Not anymore.

"Get over here, Grayson." Artemis grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him into the corner.

"You know, you can just call me Dick." He said.

"Oh, trust me, I was planning to." Artemis growled. She wasn't happy with Dick at the moment. His lie back there about them being engaged had been completely outrageous and, Artemis suspected, had had something to do with Cameron's little freak out. Despite that though, the kid was still the only one here that Artemis had the smallest bit of trust in.

"Dick, I need you to do something for me." Artemis lowered her voice. Dick frowned. He could tell from the tone of her voice that this was serious.

"What's up?" Dick asked.

Artemis cast her eyes around the room before turning back to him. "I need to go find Cameron, make sure that he's okay. Can you watch things here while I'm gone?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Dick said hesitantly. "But are you sure that you should be going after Cameron? I mean, he was pretty upset, and-" Dick trailed off and stared at the cut on Artemis' arm, which was still bleeding. Artemis scowled and crossed her arms to hide the wound.

"That was an accident." Artemis said forcefully. "Cameron would never try to hurt me."

"I know that." Dick said, and he honestly believed it. "But what if another accident happens?"

"I'll be fine." Artemis smiled slightly. "Believe it or not, I do know how to take care of myself."

"I believe it." Dick said. "But I still don't think that you should-"

"What if this was one of your friends?" Artemis snapped, which caused Dick to hesitate. "What if something like this was happening to one of them? What would you do?"

"...Probably the same thing you're doing." Dick said quietly. He shook his head and looked Artemis in the eye. "Fine, I'll watch things here while you're gone. Just, be careful, okay?"

"I'll try." Artemis smiled appreciatively. "One more thing before I go." And, out of nowhere, Artemis punched Dick's shoulder, hard. "No more telling people we're getting married." Artemis warned, and then she was gone.

"Yeah, I kinda deserved that." Dick rubbed his shoulder, sure that a bruise would form there later because, man, Artemis had a mean hit. Dick completely understood why she had hit him though. He had messed up, big time. Announcing to everybody that he and Artemis were engaged had been a mistake, and it was most definitely not the truth, but it was the first thing that Dick could think of that The Light might actually accept as a legitimate reason as to why Gotham wanted Cameron in power.

It wasn't as if Dick could have just announced the real reason they were interested in Cameron being in charge over Star City.

What The Light was completely unaware of, and what they needed to _stay_ unaware of, was that Bruce Wayne was not entirely supportive of their cause, and never had been. Quite the opposite, in fact. After all, why would Batman, or any member of The Justice League, ever support The Light?

But Bruce had known that The Light was powerful and had a lot of influence, so, over the years, while Batman openly did what he could to defy The Light, Bruce Wayne showed signs of supporting them, to gain their trust. That trust came in handy three years ago, after The Incident, when The Light had decided that Bruce would lead Gotham.

Of course, The Light had no idea that Bruce Wayne was actually Batman. Nobody did, and why would they? To the world, The Justice League was dead.

Oh, how wrong they were.

The league wasn't dead, but when they heard that that was what everybody thought, they used it to their advantage. After all, nobody would ever expect a surprise attack from people who have been dead for years.

But this couldn't be rushed. The Light was powerful, and a lot of powerful people following them. The league would have to be smart about this if they wanted to defeat The Light for good. For the past three years The Justice League had been slowly chipping away at The Light's forces, biding their time until the day that The Light would be weak enough to take down.

They had to work slowly and subtly though, lest The Light figure out that something was up. So far though, they suspected nothing. The Light had no idea that Bruce Wayne was plotting against them. They were also unaware that, over the years, The Justice League had brought others to their side, including a number of people that The Light had trusted and given power to.

This was the reason that Bruce wanted Cameron to be the one leading over Star City. Because Bruce believed they could convince Cameron to join them, and even if they couldn't, it would be better for their cause if a larger city like Star City was being ruled over by some low-threat kid rather than a psychotic tyrant. Especially if said kid trusted him, and, in turn, Bruce.

That was what Dick was here to do, to earn Cameron's trust...he wasn't exactly doing such a good job at it so far, but hey, at least he had Artemis' trust. That was a start.

In all honesty, Dick was not happy with this assignment. He understood what needed to be done, and why it needed to be done, but he didn't like the fact that he was the one doing it. Bruce's reasoning behind sending Dick was that both Cameron and Artemis would likely open up more to someone they could relate to more, someone close to their age.

While that may be true, Dick was fully aware that that wasn't the true reason that Bruce had sent him. No, the true reason was that Bruce was worried about him and wanted him to make some new friends, to move on. While Dick appreciated Bruce's concern, he just didn't think that he was ready to move on.

He couldn't just forget about the friends he had lost.

The battle between The Justice League and a number of villains had been a brutal one. None of the members of the league who had sidekicks or partners wanted the younger heroes to be in so much danger, so instead of participating in the actual battle, the protogees had been tasked with keeping the civilians safe and out of danger.

None of them had been happy with this assignment, especially not Roy.

He had felt like they were being treated like children, like the league didn't trust them enough to handle themselves in a fight. They may have been young, but they weren't incapable, and Roy planned on reminding the league of that,

By taking down Cadmus.

The Light had many assets and projects, and one of their more important ones was Cadmus. Coincidentally enough, the Cadmus building was located in Gotham. With all the chaos and confusion in the city because of the battle, it was the perfect time to take down Cadmus, make The Light that much weaker.

Roy was determined to take this opportunity while they had it, because a better chance to go after Cadmus wasn't going to come up. If they were going to do this, they had to act now, and they all knew it.

The rest of the team followed Roy to Cadmus' building, though most of them were hesitant to actually make a move. No one else was sure if they should do this now. M'gann was the first to commit to going in with Roy, because she telepathically sensed that somebody was in there, trapped, and needed their help, and she wasn't about to just leave them.

With Roy and M'gann both going into Cadmus, Kaldur decided that it would probably be best if he go in with them, to make sure that things went well. Wally was the last to make a decision, though Dick had known that Wally would go into Cadmus with the others. Wally was the type of person who wanted to help people, no matter what. If there was somebody in Cadmus who needed their help, he was going to help them.

Dick had understood this, but he didn't agree with it. They had been given a job to do, to protect the civilians. Sure, it was a demeaning task, but a very important one nonetheless. Dick thought it would be better worth his time to make sure that all the people that he knew were out here were okay, rather than just help one person who may or may not actually be in trouble (On occasion, the things that M'gann sensed weren't entirely accurate). So, while his friends all rushed into Cadmus, Dick had stayed outside.

He had regretted that decision ever since.

After the battle had ended, Dick had first thought that they had gotten off lucky. Nobody in the league had died, and none of the villains were aware that they were still around. The heroes had the upper hand now.

Dick's thoughts about their luck changed when he learned that the Cadmus building had been completely destroyed, and there was no sign of his friends, anywhere. The most likely explanation was that they had still been in the building when it had been destroyed, in which case, they were gone.

Dick didn't want to believe that explanation though. For the past three years he had clung to the hope that they were alive, that they had somehow miraculously survived and there was a perfectly good reason as to where they had been all this time.

After three years though, Dick's hope was beginning to run out.

His friends were gone, and they weren't coming back. Dick knew this, but he still had a hard time accepting it.

He supposed that that was something that he and Artemis had in common. Both of them clung desperately to the past and they both wished that things could just go back to the way they were before. That was why Dick had let Artemis go after Cameron. He didn't understand what was going on between those two, and he suspected that Artemis didn't exactly understand it completely either, but if Artemis felt the need to try to fix things, Dick wasn't about to stop her. Because if the situations were switched, he would likely do the same thing.

But he wasn't about to just let Artemis wander off either, not without knowing what was going on with her. So, before she had left, Dick had put a bug, of the electronic spying variety, on her shirt. With this, Dick would hear through his earpiece exactly what was going on with Artemis. If she ran into trouble, he would know about it immediately.

So far, Artemis hadn't run into any trouble, though, from what Dick could gather from Artemis' mutterings to herself, she had managed to get herself completely and totally lost and she had no idea where to even begin looking for Cameron.

Dick couldn't help but laugh when he heard that Artemis was lost. He knew that he shouldn't, and the situation wasn't funny...except it kinda was. Getting lost in Star City just seemed like such a ridiculous problem for somebody who had lived there their entire lives. Besides, Dick didn't think that this would be too much of a problem. Artemis was a resourceful girl. Surely she would eventually be able to figure out what she was doing.

"Hey, blondie, do you need help?" Dick narrowed his eyes and began to pay even closer attention to what he was hearing than before. Somebody was talking to Artemis, and that wasn't exactly a good thing.

"Get lost, ginger." Artemis retorted. Dick smirked. It certainly sounded like Artemis would be able to handle herself if she needed to.

"Hey, there's no need to be like that, I'm just trying to be nice." Dick was surprised at how sincere this guy sounded. Like he really just wanted to help Artemis, and didn't have any ulterior motives at all. Genuinely nice guys were rare nowadays, especially after dark. Dick grew even more curious as to who this guy was, and why he sounded so familiar. "You looked a little lost," The guy continued, "So I just thought you might want some help."

"I'm not lost, and I don't need help." Artemis responded, even though neither statement was true. "I'm just trying to find a friend of mine."

"Do you want me to help look for them?" The guy asked. Artemis hesitated to answer. It was risky to accept help from a stranger, but she, like Dick, found herself thinking that this guy was okay. And if Artemis' impression on this guy turned out to be wrong, she could easily overtake him in a fight.

"Yeah, some help would probably be nice." Artemis finally answered.

"Great...uh, do you have any idea where your friend is? Or what they're name is, or anything to help us find them?" The guy asked. Dick could practically hear Artemis rolling her eyes.

"If I knew where he was, idiot, I wouldn't have to be looking for him." Artemis said impatiently. "And of course I know what his name is, it's Cameron." Artemis was quiet for a moment before she added in a more patient tone "And I'm Artemis."

The stranger introduced himself as well, and Dick's world froze at the words that he overheard. Dick recognized the name that the supposed stranger gave, but, it wasn't possible. it just wasn't possible. It couldn't actually be…

...could it?

But what if it was?

Dick quickly brought a hand to the communicator in his ear. If this guy was who he said he was, then Bruce and the rest of the league needed to hear about it immediately. Just before Dick contacted them though, he stopped, because a chilling thought came to his mind.

What if it wasn't him?

Dick could have easily misheard the name, or this guy just had the same name. It wasn't as if it was the most uncommon name in the world. But with the guy's personality, and the name that Artemis had first called him, this was all just seemed a little too coincidental.

Dick had to be sure. He had to see for himself if this guy was who he thought he was. Only once he was sure would he tell the league about it. Dick was anxious to find out the truth, so, after pausing just long enough to tell Leonard Snart that he was in charge, Dick left. As he ran only one thought, one name, was going through Dick's mind. The supposed name of this stranger, the name of somebody that Dick had been beginning to think was gone for good.

Wally West.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another thing from the show that I'm changing for this story is that Wally doesn't know that Dick Grayson is Robin.

While searching the city for Cameron, Artemis learned quite a bit about Wally. For one thing, he really liked to talk...a lot. And he had plenty of time to do so, because wandering around Star City aimlessly was taking longer than Artemis had thought it would. At this rate, Artemis was beginning to wonder if they would find Cameron. After all, they had no idea where he went, and Star City was a big place. He could be anywhere.

"Alright, this isn't working." Artemis stopped after nearly half an hour of walking around and leaned against the closest building. "We've got to think of a plan here, because what we've been doing is getting us nowhere."

"Well, there's not much else we can do." Wally pointed out. "Unless you know where your friend is, searching is the best chance we've got."

Artemis crossed her arms and glared at Wally. "I already told you, I wouldn't have to look for him if I knew where he was!" Artemis forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down. Getting mad and fighting with Wally wouldn't do any good now. "Look, why don't we just split up? We'll cover twice as much ground that way."

"Are you crazy? No way!" Wally's eyes went wide at the suggestion. "I don't care how much faster we'll go, it's too dangerous."

"Dangerous? Look around." Artemis spread her arms and indicated the empty streets. "Nothing and nobody is around. Why would it be dangerous?"

"Trust me, these days, danger is everywhere." Wally's voice was low and serious, which made Artemis listen to what he was saying. "No matter how safe it looks, there's no telling what lurks just out of sight. So, no we're not splitting up." Having said the final word on the matter, Wally began their search again. Artemis rolled her eyes and begrudgingly followed behind him.

"Besides," Wally continued. "I don't know your friend, so I wouldn't even know him if I found him."

Artemis scowled and was just about to inform Wally that, considering Cameron had such a unique skin tone and nearly white hair, it would be nearly impossible to not recognize him immediately. Before Artemis could say anything though, she froze, her head snapped toward a nearby ally. Part of Artemis' training was making sure she was aware of her surrounding, and she was positive that she had heard something. Based on how tense Wally was as he looked toward the same ally, he had heard something too.

"Not good." Wally muttered as a three guys came striding out of the ally, and all of them looked like they were ready for a fight. Wally swore under his breath, grabbed Artemis' hand, and turned to run in the other direction...only to find their way blocked by an addition six guys.

They were surrounded.

Artemis snatched her hand away from Wally's and took a battle stance. It looked like Wally had been right after all about these streets being more dangerous than they seemed. Artemis guessed that these guys were little more than muggers, or possibly a small gang. Guys who, while not exactly villains who worked for The Light, took advantage of the fear and chaos to get what they wanted.

Well, whatever it is they wanted, if they thought they would be getting it from her and Wally, they had another thing coming. Artemis knew a thing or two about defending herself, even without her bow.

What surprised Artemis was that Wally seemed as prepared for a fight as she was. He didn't look happy about what they both knew was coming, but he was ready for it. This struck Artemis as odd, because Wally West did not seem like the type of person who knew how to fight. Then again, if he had a habit of walking around the streets after dark, it made sense that he would know at least something about defending himself.

One of the punks made the first move. He came at Artemis, a switchblade in his hand. His movements were predictable though, and it was all too easy for Artemis to sidestep out of the way and knock him to the ground. A couple more guys came at her, probably thinking that they could overpower her easily since they outnumbered her. Unfortunately for them, they also underestimated her, which was a terrible mistake on their part, one which resulted bloody noses and a handful of knocked out teeth.

Wally was doing his fair amount of fighting too. From what Artemis could tell from spare glances she cast his way, Wally seemed to be holding up pretty well. He certainly wasn't as violent as Artemis was, and sometimes his attacks were a bit sloppy and he couldn't seem to find a constant rhythm to fall into. Some of Wally's punches were really quick and powerful, which would have impressed Artemis if it weren't for the fact that just as many of his punches were slow and awkward. It almost seemed like Wally was holding back, but what reason would he have to do that?

Trying to figure out boys and why they did what they did would get Artemis killed one of these days. Artemis had let herself get distracted by Wally, and she failed to notice that the first guy she had knocked down, the one with the switchblade, was getting up again, and he was not happy. He dropped the knife and pulled from his inner coat pocket another weapon, one that was even more dangerous.

Wally had just finished fighting his own group of thugs when he turned to Artemis. Wally's eyes grew wide in horror and, when Artemis heard the click that she knew meant that the safety of a gun had been turned off. Artemis turned around just in time to see the guy tighten his fingers on the trigger. Artemis shut her eyes tight and braced herself.

"No!" Wally cried out just before the gun went off. Artemis heard a loud and sharp _*bang*._ An instant later, instead of feeling pain, like she thought she would, Artemis experienced a very brief and strange rush of wind against her face. The feeling passed just as quickly as it came. Artemis opened her eyes and jumped back in shock when she saw that she was standing face to face with Wally, who had been a couple of feet away only a moment ago.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked quickly, his voice full of concern.

"I...yeah, but, how did-" Artemis trailed off when she saw that the spot where they were standing was nearly twenty feet from where they had been just seconds before. There was no way they could have gotten here that quickly, not unless there was some teleportation involved, or maybe...superspeed.

"Are-are you a speedster?" Artemis asked, barely believing her own question as it left her mouth. The terrified look on Wally's face told her that her assumption had been right on the nose. Wally West was a speedster, or, at the very least, a different type of meta-human.

If Wally really was a meta-human, then Artemis completely understood why he looked so worried about her finding out. These days, meta-humans were hunted down and trained like dogs to serve The Light. Artemis knew that many meta's had gone into hiding, and it was rumored that a group of them had found refuge somewhere near Star City, but Artemis never expected the rumor to be true, or that she would meet one of them.

"Hey, you don't have to worry." Artemis began to assure Wally. She had no intentions of turning him in. "I'm not going to-"

"Look out!" A short almost implike figure that Artemis immediately recognized as Dick leapt suddenly out of the shadows and pushed Wally out of the way just as the thug who had tried to shoot Artemis a moment before was about to attack the unaware speedster.

It seemed that the man had overheard Artemis say that Wally was a speedster, because the man's attack hadn't been meant to kill or seriously injure. Instead of firing his gun, the thug had tried to just hit Wally over the back of the head with it. He had probably been trying to knock Wally out so that he could capture him and sell him to The Light.

However, that didn't happen because Wally hadn't been the one to take the hit. Dick had pushed him out of the way just in time, only to take the blow to the side of the head himself. Dick cried out in pain and fell to the ground, his hands clutched at the spot where he had been hit, right near his ear.

The thug looked furious that Dick had meddled with his plan to catch a meta-human, but Artemis wasn't about to let him take his revenge. She had had more than enough of this guy. Before he could decide whether he wanted to go after Wally or Dick, Artemis jumped in and punched the guy sharply in the face, hard enough to knock him out cold.

With all of their attackers now either gone, having run off like the cowards that they were, or unconscious, Artemis could turn her attention to her downed friend.

"Dick, are you okay?" Artemis asked, concern lacing her voice. That had looked like a pretty bad hit.

" 'm fine." Dick groaned He looked at Artemis and smirked weakly. "Trust me, I've handled worse." Dick began to try to stand again, but Wally put his hands on the younger teen's shoulders and stopped him.

"Don't." Wally said firmly but gently. "You should rest for a minute." Artemis expected Dick to fight Wally on that, insist that he was fine and then stubbornly try to prove it. However Dick nodded and stared at Wally with wide eyes. Not in fear, exactly, more like in disbelief, and Artemis had the feeling that that disbelief had nothing to do with the fact that Wally was a meta.

"Uh, hey, are you okay?" Wally asked a minute later. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Wally was worried that Dick's blank stare and pale skin was a result of a brain injury or something

"What?" Dick shook his head. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just...I'm fine." Dick smiled warmly. "I'm actually feeling pretty great."

Artemis was taken aback. First off, because how can someone say they feel great after getting knocked to the head like that? More than that though, Artemis was surprised by Dick's behavior because he was actually smiling, not in a cocky or mischievous way, but like he was legitimately happy.

"That's good." Wally smiled back at Dick, whose smile brightened. "You good to get up now?" Wally asked.

"Absolutely." Wally held out a hand to help Dick up. The younger boy staggered a bit when he was on his feet, but Wally was there to steady him.

"Are you sure you're okay? Wally asked.

Dick was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I will be."

"You had better be." Artemis crossed her arms. "Now what are you doing here?" She didn't mean for her tone to be so harsh, but Artemis had a tendency to turn to anger when she was worried about somebody. It was easier to show people her anger rather than let them see her fear.

"I, uh," Dick glanced at Wally then turned back to Artemis and smirked. "I just thought you might need some help."

"What made you think that?" Artemis growled.

"Come on, Artemis, get off his back." Wally said. "He did help us, remember?"

Artemis huffed and rolled her eyes, though she had to admit, it was a good thing that Dick had arrived when he did. It wasn't like she was going to tell him that though.

"And I can help even more." Dick said. "I have an idea on how we can find Cameron." This caught Artemis' interest.

"Really? How?" She didn't really want to accept Dick's help, but anything would be better than wandering around aimlessly like she and Wally had been doing so far.

"First, do either of you know where the nearest police station is?" Dick asked.

"Seriously? That's your big plan?" Artemis clenched her fists. "Here's a news flash for you, Dick. The stations are empty. Nobody's going to be there to help us."

"I know, but even if the cops haven't been there for years, their computers should still be up and running." Dick said.

"And you think they might have picked up on news or strange occurrences, and since the city is mostly abandoned tonight-" Wally picked up on the plan.

"Any news we get could lead us to Cam." Artemis finished. Sure, this might not work, and any information they could find might not even point to Cameron, but it was better than nothing.

Luckily Wally knew where a nearby police station was and within minutes the three of them arrived there. Dick immediately sat at one of the computers and began hacking into the system to get the information they were looking for. As Dick worked, Wally and Artemis stood guard by the door, in case any more trouble came their way.

After a few minutes of keeping watch in silence, Wally turned to Artemis. "Hey, so, uh, who exactly is your friend?" Wally nodded toward where Dick was working at the computer.

"You mean Dick? Honestly, I don't know a lot about him, but don't worry. I don't think he'll tell anybody about you being a meta-human. I don't even know if he knows." Artemis said.

"I'm not worried about that." Wally waved it off like it was nothing. "No, I was just curious. Dick kinda just reminds me of a good friend of mine." Based off of Wally's sad tone, he was probably talking about a friend that was now gone.

"What happened to him?" Artemis asked. Wally shrugged.

"I don't really know. We got separated, and then I never saw him again." Wally frowned and sighed. "I never should have left him." Artemis wasn't sure exactly what to say to that. Thankfully, she was spared from trying to figure it out when they heard Dick make a sound of interest, meaning that he found something strange and possibly useful.

"What'd you find?" Artemis asked.

"It might not be anything." Dick said, his eyes still on the computer screen. "It just says that an alarm system had been set off earlier, only to be turned off again within seconds."

"So what?" Wally asked. "It's probably just some guy who accidentally tripped his own alarm. These kind of things happen all the time."

"I doubt that's the case this time." Dick said. He moved over so that they could see too. "The security system is for a penthouse belonging to Oliver Queen."

"And Oliver Queen has been missing for the past three years." Wally said almost sadly.

"Alright, so it's probably not the owner." Artemis said. "Do you think it's Cam?"

"Only way to know for sure is to check it out for ourselves." Wally said.

"Maybe that's not such a good idea." Dick said. "What if it's not Cameron? We could run into some real trouble."

"You don't have to come with us." Artemis pointed out.

"She's right." Wally said. "If you don't want to come, that's fine. Me and Artemis will just go ahead and-"

"No!" Dick exclaimed, his expression darkening. "I'm coming with you guys. I am not going to be left behind again."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, but whatever. "Alright then, let's go."

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Gotham._

Oliver Queen stared blankly at the alert flashing in front of him. Three years ago he had left behind his old life and moved to Gotham where The Justice League's temporary new headquarters was. When they had learned that the world saw them as dead, some of the league members had returned to their normal lives and waited, as civilians, until the right time came to rise up against The Light.

Some league members, such as Barry Allen or Clark Kent, couldn't do that because some of their enemies knew what their secret identities were. They had been forced to abandon their old lives. Fortunately, Batman, as always, had a solution. He proposed that they, and any other league members who felt the need to, could stay in The Batcave, which had become the League's temporary headquarters.

Oliver Queen hadn't technically needed to move to Gotham like some of the others, he could have just stayed in Star City as Oliver Queen. However, Batman had pulled him aside and pointed out that if he returned to Star City, he would have to be willing to just sit by and watch as The Light did what they did, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

The Light, after all, did not react well against rebellion, and they certainly would have never allowed somebody with so much money and influence, such as Oliver Queen, to defy them. So, Oliver had made the decision to join the others in Gotham. Sure, he was abandoning his old life, but at least this way he would be able to do some good, to help people.

Besides, it wasn't as if his whole situation was permanent. Someday, they would defeat The Light, and Oliver would be able to get his life back. When that happened, he planned on having a home to return to. So, Oliver had made sure to upgrade the security of his penthouse. If there was a break in or vandalism of any kind, he would be informed of it immediately. In the past three years though, the precautions had been unnecessary. None of his alarms had gone off and his home remained safe.

Until tonight.

Oliver had been quite surprised when, for the first time, he had actually gotten a report that the security at his penthouse had been breached. Somebody had broken into his home, and he was planning on finding out who.

Oliver began to gather his gear. He didn't exactly plan on shooting anybody with his arrows, but it was always good to be prepared. Once he was ready to go Oliver went to find Batman. It wasn't uncommon for the league members to leave for a bit, usually to secretly help some local rebellion group. Anytime any of them left, no matter where it was or for how long, they were required to tell Batman, just so he could know who was where at all times.

Oliver found Batman at one of the large computer consoles in the cave, and he seemed really irritated about something. Oliver grew cautious. He knew from experience that an irritated Batman was a dangerous Batman.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked as he approached Batman. Oliver started a bit when he saw that Batman's cowl was down, which meant that he wasn't currently The Dark Knight, he was Bruce Wayne.

"What happened?" Oliver asked, because he knew that he wouldn't be seeing the man behind the bat unless something had gone seriously wrong.

"It's Dick." Bruce said. "He hasn't called in for a while, and his communicator just went offline."

Oh. Now Oliver understood what Bruce was so tense about. His kid was missing. A few years ago, if one of their sidekicks-no, _partners_ , Oliver reminded himself- had gone missing, it would be cause for a bit of alarm, but not too much. After The Incident though, that all changed. Now, Robin was the only kid left. It was no wonder Bruce was worried.

"Did this just happen?" Oliver asked. Bruce nodded. "If you want, I can look for him. It hasn't been long, so he should still be in Star City, and I was about to head down there anyway."

Bruce turned to Oliver, his eyes narrowed. "Why were you going to Star City?"

Oliver shrugged. "I got news that somebody broke into my home and I wanted to check it out, make sure it's nothing serious. Don't worry though, I'll be careful and won't reveal myself."

Bruce scowled. He obviously didn't like the idea of Oliver returning to his home, especially not when so many of the world's most dangerous villains were in the same city. But, he was also really worried about Dick, and would feel better if there was somebody out there looking for him.

"Fine." Bruce growled. "But you are to report anything, and I mean _anything_ you find."

"Got it." Oliver smirked and headed to the Zeta-Beam system which would teleport him to Star City. Oliver was glad to be back in his home city, though it was unnerving how deserted it was. Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about being recognized. Oliver walked down the still familiar streets and made his way back to his penthouse, his home.

Oliver furrowed his brow when he saw that the door was ajar, meaning that somebody had definitely been here. And, based on the loud crashing noises he could hear come from inside, they were still there. Oliver grabbed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to his bow. Oliver kicked open the door, prepared to deal with whoever, or whatever, he found. When he saw the state of his penthouse though, Oliver lowered his weapon.

This...had not been what he had expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize how often in this story I switched which character I was focusing on for the chapter. That is definitely one thing about my style that has changed. In the sequel, each chapter will be from one point of view, and if I switch it they will be separated by a line-break or something.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a few years, so maybe the Frozen obsession has died down a bit from when I'd originally written the story, but I'm going to tell you guys what I told my readers on fanfiction.net. This is a Frozen AU, not a retelling. Please don't think too much about which character is supposed to be Kristoff, and whether or not Dick is Hans. First and foremost, this is an AU where the villains are ruling the world, it just so happens to be based off of Frozen.
> 
> I'm just mentioning this because I don't want to get any reviews saying 'who is Hans/Olaf/Kristoff?'. I got a few reviews like that before. This is an adaptation, if you will, and adaptations don't have to be exact copies.

Oliver stared in shock. His penthouse looked like a very violent blizzard had blown in and frozen everything over. Ice and frost covered nearly every surface. On top of all that, many of his more expensive and priceless belongings were thrown across the floor, broken, which told Oliver that it hadn't been a burglar that had broken into his home. If it had been, they would have stolen the goods and then left before they could get caught.

His breath caught in his throat, Oliver cautiously advanced further into the penthouse to get a better idea of what the damage was, and possibly find a clue as to who had done it.

Oliver liked to think that he was light on his feet, but every step he took was accompanied by the crunching of glass and ice. The floor was covered almost completely in the fragile materials, and it was nearly impossible to take a step without stepping on something. When Oliver reached the middle of the room he stopped, his senses on high alert.

Somebody else was here. Olver wasn't sure how he knew, he just did. It wasn't that he heard something, because the room, the whole penthouse, was silent. It was more like he had a gut feeling, or he felt it in the chill in the air. He wasn't alone.

That knowledge caused Oliver to be even more cautious and aware of his surroundings, which is why he noticed when the cold chill of the room dropped to an even cooler temperature. In an instant, Oliver had his bow raised once again. Oliver snapped around and aimed his weapon, only to find himself face to face with the intrude.

Oliver furrowed his brow in confusion. He had been expecting the intruder to be just some regular punk kid. And sure, this guy was a kid, probably no older than eighteen, but he was far from regular. After all, Oliver was pretty sure that most kids weren't covered head to toe in ice.

It took a moment for Oliver Queen to realize that he knew who this kid was. Batman had made a point of making sure that everybody in The Justice League was familiar with all villains and threats, as well as potential ones. Cameron Mahkent was on the list of potential threats, because he had the power to cause some real damage, but so far hadn't shown many signs of wanting to do so.

Some of the league was cautious about Cameron, they felt that, when they least expected it, the boy would show his sadistic side. Other members of the league, such as Oliver, Flash, and even Batman, saw potential goodness in Cameron. They believed that Cameron was only on the side of evil because that was all he had ever known, not because it was what he had chosen.

Facing Cameron right now though, Oliver could see why others would see this kid as a threat, somebody to fear. Cameron's eyes were cold, dark, and ruthless. From his right arm a large, sharp shard of ice had formed, and it looked as if the teenager wouldn't hesitate to impale Oliver with it if provoked.

"Put the bow down." Cameron said slowly and harshly. Oliver did as the boy asked and placed his weapon on the ground. Oliver even went so far as to place his quiver next to it and kick them both away so that they were out of his reach. Normally when facing enemies, letting go of his weapon and giving his opponent the advantage was the last thing that Oliver would do. In this situation though, he felt that putting down his bow was the best option, because Cameron might become more relaxed if he didn't feel threatened.

"It's alright, Cameron. I'm not going to hurt you." Oliver said and he held up his hands to show that he meant no harm. The words and gesture were meant to be calming, but they seemed to have the opposite effect on Cameron. The boy's eyes widened in shock and Oliver caught a brief look of something like fear cross over Cameron's face. Before Oliver could figure out just what he saw, the kid's expression darkened again. Oliver grew concerned. Had he said something wrong?

"Cameron, are you okay?" Oliver took a step toward the boy. Cameron's hard expression fell slightly, which only allowed more of his fear to show through.

"S-stay back!" Cameron shouted, his voice wavering slightly. He raised his right arm, the sharp ice protruding from it sent a clear message. Oliver ignored the threat though and continued trying to approach Cameron. With every step he took though, Cameron retreated back, keeping the distance between them. It wasn't long however before Cameron had backed straight into a wall. The kid's eyes widened and Oliver was reminded of a cornered wild animal.

"Hey, calm down." Oliver began to extend his hand, which only increased Cameron's panic.

"No!" Cameron shouted and raised his arms as if to shield himself. A layer of ice spread under Cameron's feet, freezing Oliver's own feet to the floor. Multiple ice shards grew up from the ground, one of the sharp shards was only a few inches short of piercing Oliver right in the neck.

Oliver wished that he had had the foresight to not abandon his bow. It had been a reckless mistake. He hadn't believed that Cameron would try to do any harm to him. Next time, Oliver would have to keep in mind that cornered animals had a tendency to bite and lash out.

...And he really should stop making that comparison. Cameron was a teenager, not a wild animal. In his experience though, Oliver often had a hard time _not_ seeing similarities between the two.

Fortunately, it didn't look like Cameron would be attacking him with ice again any time soon. Cameron actually looked as shocked about his outburst as Oliver felt. The teenager stared in shock at the ice, then looked at his hands, which were shaking slightly. Cameron frowned and clenched his fists. The ice armor that had covered his body melted away, leaving just plain, normal Cameron Mahkent. The kid brought a hand to his head, leaned against the wall, and slid down to sit on the floor.

"That...wasn't supposed to happen." Cameron muttered.

"That's good to know." Oliver said. "In that case, would you mind helping me out with this?" Oliver gestured at his feet, which were still encased in ice.

"What? Oh, shit, sorry." Cameron got back to his feet. "Uh," he looked around the room. "Any idea on how to get the ice off?" Cameron asked somewhat sheepishly, because, while he could create ice without even trying, he had yet to figure out how to retract it.

Oliver Queen stared at Cameron in a slightly shocked way. While he hadn't thought that the boy had tried to hurt him, Oliver also hadn't expected for the kid to actually be sorry about it either. "Uh, well, in my quiver there should be a trick arrow that'll give off heat. That should work to melt the ice." Cameron nodded and went to retrieve the arrow.

Because of his ice powers, Cameron was very sensitive to heat, so finding the right arrow only took a moment. Cameron didn't immediately take the arrow back to Oliver though, because something about it, and all the others, seemed kinda...off.

First off, only one or two of them were the traditional type of arrow. The rest were different type of 'trick' arrows. What was really weird though was that all of these looked custom made, and Cameron could've sworn that he recognized the design and style of these things, though he couldn't quite remember why.

Cameron didn't dwell on it though, because seriously, this heat arrow thing was getting a little too warm to hold. Yes, the heat was coming from the tip, and he was holding it by the shift, but it was still uncomfortably warm for Cameron. That's one of the downsides to being sensitive to heat, it's easier to burn.

Besides, it would probably be better to get that guys feet de-iced sooner rather than later.

"Here, dude." Cameron handed Oliver the arrow.

"Thank you, Cameron." Oliver began to melt the ice at his feet. He really was quite grateful, and still pleasantly surprised. Cameron seemed to be much nicer than Oliver would have expected him to be.

Cameron frowned slightly and crossed his arms. "How do you know who I am?" He asked cautiously. Oliver's eyes widened with realization. So _that_ was why Cameron had freaked out. Because a total stranger seemed to know exactly who he was. Alright, that made sense.

"It's a long story." Oliver said. It wasn't, really, but what else was he supposed to say?

Cameron tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Do _I_ know who _you_ are?"

"Well, we have met before, though it has been a few years." Oliver said. Nearly fifteen years. Cameron had been so young, barely three, when Oliver had first met him. Back then, as Green Arrow, he had fought Icicle on a regular basis. Joar Mahkent had been a tough opponent, even more so after he had decided to involve his son in the family business.

Oliver still had a hard time believing that Icicle had brought Cameron on heists with him when the kid was so young. To Joar's credit though, he never put Cameron in any immediate danger. Usually, the kid's job was simply to distract Green Arrow, giving Icicle the chance to get away. This was the safest job Joar could give Cameron to do, because, as the two adults knew perfectly well, Green Arrow could never bring himself to hurt or fight a kid.

It had been...frustrating, and absolutely infuriating. Multiple times he had let Icicle get away with his crimes scot-free, just because a toddler with some impressive ice abilities had stood between his father and the hero.

Oliver, of course, remembered all of this. He was surprised though that Cameron seemed to remember as well, even if it was just vaguely. Maybe Cameron didn't know how, but he did recognize Oliver. And since he had never met Cameron as Oliver Queen, that meant that Cameron recognized him as Green Arrow, even if he didn't realize it.

Cameron, who had been trying to figure out just where he knew Oliver from, turned his attention to the heat arrow that the man was still holding. This type of arrow just felt and looked so familiar to him. In an instant, Cameron realized where he had seen an arrow like this before.

"Hey, uh, where'd you get that?" Cameron gestured to the heat arrow. Oliver glanced down at it.

"Oh, this? I had it made." Oliver said proudly. These were one of a kind arrows, of course he was proud of having it.

"So, only you have arrows like this?" Cameron asked. Oliver frowned at the suspicion in the boy's voice.

"To my knowledge, yes." Oliver narrowed his eyes at Cameron and tried to figure out just what all the questions were for. "Why do you want to know?" Oliver asked cautiously.

"Oh, no reason." Cameron shrugged as if it really wasn't a big deal, but the fact that the cold hard look had returned to Cameron's eyes told a different story. "It's just that my dad used to have an arrow almost _exactly_ like the one you're holding. Said he kept it from one of his fights against the stupid Robin Hood wannabe."

Oh... _shit._

"Cameron, I can explain." Before he could even begin though, Cameron shot a blast of ice that only just missed hitting Oliver in the head. Cameron's eyes were calm and cold, never had Oliver seen Cameron resemble Joar so much then at this moment.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood to hear it?" Cameron growled. Ice gathered in the palm of his hands, and he looked just seconds away from shooting another frozen blast, ending it all. Oliver grew tense, but as the seconds passed without Cameron making another attack, he began to relax slightly, even if he was confused.

Cameron _looked_ like he wanted nothing more than to ice Oliver right there, and he was certainly capable of doing so. For some reason though, he hesitated. Something was stopping Cameron from acting.

After more than a minute of staring each other down, Cameron gave a shout of frustration and finally fired a blast of ice...in the complete opposite direction of where Oliver stood. The ice harmlessly hit the wall, freezing it. Cameron glared at the wall as if it had personally offended him. Cameron raised his hand as if to send out another blast of ice, but decided against it.

Cameron sighed in defeat and ran his hands through his hair. "Can't believe I can't do this." He muttered. "Talk about pathetic." he scoffed at himself.

"Pathetic?" Oliver frowned. "Are you talking about not killing me? Because I'm pretty sure sparing my life isn't pathetic."

Cameron scowled and clenched his fists. "It's not just killing. I can barely ever bring myself to even hurt people at all. That's what's pathetic."

"How so?" Oliver asked. Cameron shot a glare in Oliver's direction, as if he thought him an idiot for asking such a stupid question.

"Because that's not what villains are supposed to be like!" Cameron shouted.

Oliver crossed his arms. "So? That doesn't mean that you can't be that way." Cameron gaped at him.

"W-what are you talking about? That's exactly what it means." Cameron said.

"Not if you're not a villain." Oliver said as if it was the simplest thing in the world, which, to him, it kinda was. They both knew that Cameron wasn't cut out for the villain business. The only reason he was in it in the first place was because of his father. But, the thing was, Joar wasn't around anymore to stop Cameron from doing what he wanted.

"Not a...you can't be serious." Cameron's eyes were wide. "What else would I be? There's no way I'm gonna be just an ordinary terrified civilian. And it's not like I can be a-a-" Cameron trailed off.

"A hero? Well, why not?" Oliver asked. Cameron shot him a ' _you can't be serious'_ look. Oliver took a deep breath and tried to figure out just how to phrase what he was about to say. Obviously, Cameron was hesitant to just join the ranks of the good guys, and Oliver didn't really blame him.

Still, he had to at least _try_ to convince Cameron that it would be better this way. And the only way to do that was by explaining _everything._

Oliver huffed out a small laugh. This was not how he had expected his night to go. "Make yourself comfortable kid. We've got a lot to talk about."


	10. Chapter 10

By the time Oliver had finished talking, Cameron was completely speechless. Oliver guessed this was to be expected. With everything that he had told Cameron, it was a lot to process. It took a minute for Cameron to be able to gather his thoughts enough to speak at least somewhat coherently.

"So, you're really...I mean, you're actually-" Cameron stammered.

"Green Arrow?" Oliver smirked. "Yeah."

"And the rest of the Justice League? Are they seriously-" Cameron began.

"Still alive? Yes, they are." Oliver said.

"Wow." Cameron huffed a small laugh and ran his hands through his hair. "I kinda guessed that some of you stupid heroes were still around, because there was no way you could have all possibly died in one battle. I mean, you guys are called _super_ heroes, after all. But, all of you…"

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in." Oliver said.

"That's an understatement." Cameron muttered. The teenager grew quiet for a minute. When he spoke again, it was with a lot more hesitancy. "Why would you tell me about this?"

Oliver furrowed his brow in slight confusion. "I already told you."

"What? Because you think I should join your little band of heroes? Yeah, right." Cameron scoffed. "Trust me, Arrow, I'm no hero." Cameron looked down at his hands and clenched his fists. He could feel the ice inside of him, just wanting to get out, but Cameron wouldn't let it. He had lost control of his powers, of himself, enough that night. He needed to keep it under control, before he did something that he would regret for the rest of his life.

"All I ever do is hurt people." Cameron said to himself. How ironic. He couldn't be a proper villain because he couldn't bring himself to hurt people intentionally. And yet, he would probably make an even worse hero because he was constantly bringing harm to the people around him. He just couldn't seem to do anything right.

"Cameron, I'm sure that's not-" Oliver began say, but he stopped and went still when he heard a knocking sound from the front door. Somebody was out there. Cameron had also heard it, and stared at the door with wide eyes. The knocking stopped for a few tense seconds, and then the person on the other side of the door spoke.

"Cameron, if you're in there, you had better let me in, or I swear to god I _will_ kick the door down." The person warned. Cameron's breath got caught in his throat when he heard that voice that he was all too familiar with.

"A-artemis?" What the _hell_ was she doing here? How had she known where Cameron had gone? Had she followed him? So many questions came to Cameron's head at once, it made his head hurt. His thoughts had already felt crowded enough thanks to all the information that Oliver had thrown at him, and now Artemis was here? Well, wasn't that just fan- _freaking_ -tastic. Cameron couldn't deal with this right now.

Cameron wanted more than anything for Artemis to leave, or, at the very least, try to talk to him at a time when he didn't already have so much junk to stress out about. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Artemis was here now, and Cameron knew that she would make good on her promise to break the door down if that's what it came to.

Really, Cameron had little choice but to confront Artemis now. Somehow, he had a feeling that this wasn't going to go very well. Cameron sighed, tried, and failed, to shake off the thin layer of frost that, in his anxious state, he had accidentally caused to come over his hands, and went to, begrudgingly, open the door. Cameron knew that it was best to not keep Artemis waiting, or else she would end up even more pissed off than she already was.

Oliver got the feeling that whatever was going to be said and done between Cameron and Artemis would be personal, so, to give them their privacy, Oliver went into one of the other rooms. Cameron was glad to see him go, not because he wanted to talk to Artemis alone, because he really, really didn't. But, Cameron knew that if Artemis saw Oliver, questions would be asked, and Cameron didn't want to have to deal with that.

Taking a deep breath, Cameron braced himself before opening the door just slightly. Apparently, he was going too slowly because the second he began opening the door, Artemis just pushed it wide open and let herself into the penthouse. She didn't say something right away, just stood there in silence and took in the state of the place.

"Wow," Artemis snorted "What did you do to this place?" Cameron scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. Yeah, alright, the room looked like a disaster area. Ice, frost, and broken furniture was scattered everywhere, and Cameron hated how Artemis, and even Oliver, had seen it. It was embarrassing.

"Shut up." Cameron muttered. He sighed under his breath. "What are you doing here, Arty?" He asked with a tired voice. He didn't want to deal with her right now. He didn't want to deal with anything. Cameron was just so sick and tired of _everything._

Artemis snapped toward Cameron, her eyes set in an exasperated glare. "Me? What about you? Last time I checked, you're the one who broke in here."

Cameron shrugged. "It's not like anybody uses this place anymore. How did you know where I was?"

"I had some friends help me." Artemis rolled her eyes when she saw Cameron tense at her answer. "Calm down, they're not even up here. I made them wait downstairs. I figured you wouldn't want to see anybody else right now."

' _Yeah, I don't,'_ Cameron thought to himself, ' _including you.'_

Artemis frowned at Cameron's standoffish attitude. Something was bothering him, that much was obvious. Artemis wished that, for once, Cameron would open up and tell her what was wrong. She wished that he could see that she could help him, and he didn't have to deal with everything by himself.

That was actually why Artemis had come here in the first place, to convince Cameron that he wasn't alone. Artemis realized that, if she wanted Cameron to open up to her, it would probably go better if she didn't say things to make him get defensive. It would require stepping a bit out of her comfort zone, but Artemis thought that it was high time that they _both_ moved out of their own personal bubbles.

Artemis sighed and put her hand on Cameron's arm. She felt him flinch and tense at the touch, but she didn't let go. Even though Cameron's skin was uncomfortably cold against her own, Artemis held on. She wasn't going to give up on Cameron, and he needed to know that.

"Cam, can we please just talk?" Artemis asked. Cameron stared straight ahead and refused to look at her.

"There's nothing to talk about." Cameron said. Artemis shook her head.

"There is a lot of things that we need to talk about, you dork." Artemis said. "For starters, what happened tonight? Why did you run off?"

"I just got...overwhelmed." Cameron said. He wasn't lying, but there was no need to tell Artemis just _why_ he got overwhelmed. She didn't need to know that he couldn't handle all the judgemental stares and ridiculous expectations. And she _definitely_ didn't need to know that her being there had just made it all even worse.

"Do you still feel overwhelmed?" Artemis asked. Cameron had to think about how to answer that one.

"Uh, yes?" He said. Because he really did feel overwhelmed, but now it was more because of all the information Oliver had given him. He had learned that The Justice League was still around, and that was a lot to take in. Not just that, but Oliver had also suggested that he _join_ them.

Cameron still thought that it was a ridiculous idea. He couldn't really see himself becoming a hero. But, Cameron was surprised to find that, somehow, the thought of joining The Justice League actually seemed kinda appealing. And that scared him. He wasn't hero material...was he?

"You know, you shouldn't stress so much about what The Light, or anybody else, thinks." Artemis advised.

Cameron rolled his eyes. That was easy for her to say, she wasn't the one whose future depended on what The Light decided. Cameron wouldn't be leader of Star City unless The Light allowed it, and they would only do that if they thought he could handle it. And Cameron hadn't been doing a very good job at proving that he could handle anything.

Now, Cameron didn't necessarily _want_ to be leader of Star City. In fact, if the circumstances were different, he would really rather not get the job. Cameron didn't like being the one in charge. Sure, he liked being able to make decisions for himself, but being in charge of other people? Not really his thing. His dad always said that he lacked initiative.

However, despite how he felt about it, Cameron knew that he _had_ to be Star City's leader. Cameron partially felt this way because it was what his dad had tried to prepare him for. It was what he had wanted.

The even bigger reason that Cameron needed to do this was that he knew that if he didn't get an 'in' on the power ladder, he was doomed. After all, Cameron was a meta-human, and the only reason that he hadn't already been 'recruited' into The Light's little meta-human army was because of who his father was. Now though, Cameron didn't have his dad's protection anymore, and was only still free because The Light was considering him for a higher position. If they decided that he wasn't good enough to rule Star City, chances were they would capture him and force him to be one of their meta-human dogs. And there was no way that Cameron was going to let that happen, which meant that he had to get the leadership position. Either way, he would have to serve The Light.

Unless, of course, he joined The Justice League.

Wow. Cameron couldn't believe that he was actually seriously considering it. Becoming a hero was an insane idea, and it could go horribly wrong. Or, this was Cameron's chance to get out from The Light's control. He wouldn't have to be working under them if he was part of the team that was fighting against them.

Oh, _god_. This wasn't just an insane idea, it was a suicidal one. Cameron was honestly considering turning against the people who ran the stinking world. The Light did not take treachery lightly. If they ever found out what Cameron was doing, he was a dead man. They were going to freaking kill him!

Artemis could tell that Cameron was internally struggling with himself, and seemed on the verge of freaking out. She could tell because his eyes were distant and full of panic, she could feel his arm shaking slightly beneath her hand. And, most of all, Artemis could tell because his skin grew even colder. It was beyond uncomfortable now, holding his arm had become downright painful, but Artemis didn't let go. If anything, she tightened her grip to try to reassure Cameron that she was there for him.

"Look, I may not know what you're dealing with right now, but I can still help you with it if you'd just let me. You don't have to handle everything on your own, you know." Artemis said. "For once in your life, would you please just tell me what's wrong?"

Oh hell _no._

Cameron pulled harshly away from Artemis' grasp. "I can't." he said.

Artemis narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Really? Why not?"

' _Because the stuff I've gotten myself roped into is dangerous, and I'm not about to drag you into it.'_ Cameron thought to himself. "I just can't." He said aloud.

"Why are you so against talking to me?" Artemis asked, the frustration in her voice evident.

The answer to that was clear. Cameron didn't want to let himself get close to Artemis because he was afraid of hurting her again. He had nearly killed her when they were kids. He had hit her with his ice just earlier that night. And, for the past ten years Cameron had been causing her pain by ignoring her every single day. And yet, no matter how much he hurt her, she was still trying to help him? To rekindle their friendship?

It made absolutely no sense to Cameron. He didn't understand why day after day, year after year, Artemis would continue reaching out to him. No matter how many times he pushed her away, or how much he hurt her, Artemis kept on coming right back to him.

Why would she do that? Why would she care about him that much?

Why would anybody care about him that much?

Cameron didn't notice how tightly he had been clenching his fists, how much his fingernails were digging into his skin, until he felt warm blood dripping from the wounds he had accidentally caused. If it weren't for the blood, Cameron wouldn't have realized that he was hurting himself. He hadn't even felt any pain whatsoever from the small crescent shaped cuts, and he still didn't.

Aside from a strange tingling feeling in his hands, Cameron felt absolutely nothing. He felt numb. He couldn't even feel the ice that was beginning to cover his hands. The only reason he knew it was there at all was because, even though his hands were still in his pockets, he could see a thin layer of ice at his wrists, and it was spreading.

Cameron tried to stop the ice, tried to make it go away, but he couldn't. It took concentration to control ice when he was upset, and his mind was way too full of thoughts about The Justice League, fear of The Light, Artemis...just, just Artemis. Cameron could barely tell what he was thinking about, but the point was, he couldn't focus enough to control his ice properly.

Cameron just wanted it all to stop. He wanted his powers to stop acting up and doing what he didn't want them to do. He wanted his thoughts to stop being so confusing and mixed up. He wanted his life to stop being so freaking messed up all the time.

He wished that everything would just _stop!_

"Cam," Once again, Artemis came to Cameron to try to 'help' him. Cameron didn't want her, or anybody else's, help. He just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, Artemis was too stubborn to just leave him be. Artemis approached Cameron again and, without hesitation, took his hand out from his pocket and held it between her own.

Cameron flinched and tried to pull his hand away, but Artemis' grasp was firm and she wasn't about to let go. Cameron was horrified. His skin was always unnaturally cold, but now his hand was freezing and covered in ice. Holding his hand like this was undoubtedly painful for Artemis, and yet, she still refused to let go.

Cameron's began to panic. Artemis just touching him was hurting her, and yet it was clear that she wasn't planning on letting go of his hand any time soon. This wasn't good. If Artemis held on to his hand for too long, she could potentially get frostbite, which could cause some serious, and perhaps permanent, damage to her hands. She probably knew this, and yet she held on.

Why would she do something so risky, and so stupid? Whatever. It didn't matter what her reasons were. What mattered was that Artemis couldn't keep on holding his hand like this. It was dangerous. And if Artemis wouldn't let go on her own, then Cameron would have to be the one to make her let go of his stupid hand.

Cameron took his available hand out of his pocket and used it to try to push Artemis away. As his shaking hand made contact with Artemis' shoulder, a strange feeling passed through his hand. Cameron was familiar enough with his powers to know that he had done _something_ , but he wasn't entirely sure what. This felt similar to, but also different from all the other times that he had used his powers...well, almost all the other times. Cameron couldn't exactly remember it, but he was sure that he had felt this sensation before.

A feeling of deja vu came over Cameron when he saw Artemis stagger back after he had shoved her. His push really shouldn't have been strong enough to actually cause her to let go of his hand and back away, and yet, it did. Artemis shivered slightly, a brief look of discomfort came over her face as she brought a hand to her shoulder.

"Cameron, what did you do?" Artemis asked. Cameron shook his head and looked at his hands. He wasn't really sure what he had done. Obviously, he had used his powers somehow, but he couldn't tell what they had done. Artemis wasn't bleeding, and her shoulder wasn't covered in ice, so it didn't _seem_ like he had done anything.

And yet, Cameron was sure that something had happened. He knew that he had used his powers, even though it looked like he hadn't. This was strange, because Cameron's powers _always_ left behind physical evidence. Whether it be ice, frost, blood caused by a cut, or even just reddened skin caused by the cold. And yet, Artemis looked completely normal. It was almost like, whatever he had done, hadn't hit her physically, but somehow had gone straight through her skin and gone inside of her…

...Wait.

Oh no.

Oh, god _please_ no!

Not again. This...this couldn't be happening again. It just couldn't!

And yet, it had.

Feelings of dread and guilt built up in inside of Cameron. He looked down at his shaking hands, horrified at what they had done. At what _he_ had done. Suddenly, it was like he was eight years old all over again. Young, stupid, and unsure of what to do. The man who had helped Artemis last time had been old, and was probably dead now. Cameron had no idea what he could do this time.

And that terrified him.

And, what made this whole situation even worse, Artemis actually looked concerned about _him._ Cameron supposed that he couldn't fault her for that. After all, Artemis likely had no idea what he had done, that he had even done anything at all. She had been so young, as well as unconscious, the last time this had happened. She probably had no idea that her blood was slowly turning to ice, which was freezing her from the inside out. All Artemis knew was that he was scared, and she didn't know why.

"Cameron, what are you-" Artemis reached out to him, but Cameron shied away from her.

"Get out." Cameron said dejectedly. Artemis shouldn't be anywhere near him, he was too dangerous. Just like when they were younger, Cameron believed that the best way to keep her safe was to keep her away from him.

"What? Cam, I'm not leaving." Artemis said stubbornly.

"Please." Cameron said quietly. "Just go." Artemis hesitated, and it was clear that leaving was the last thing that she wanted to do at that moment. But she was a smart girl. She knew that Cameron was upset, and had deduced that his powers weren't as easily controlled when he was in this kind of state of mind. So, even though she loathed doing so, when Artemis felt the drop of temperature in the room, she did as Cameron requested and left.


	11. Chapter 11

Oliver, despite his leaving the main room to give Cameron and Artemis some privacy, couldn't help but listen in on their conversation. It wasn't exactly the most polite or mature thing to do, but Oliver was glad that he had done it. Hearing the words exchanged between Cameron and Artemis just confirmed his original thought that the two of them were actually good kids who really cared about each other. Oliver suspected that, if it weren't for the circumstances in which they were raised, the two of them would have joined the heroes years ago.

Well, as they always say, better late than never.

At some point though, the conversation took a turn for the worse. Oliver hadn't seen what had happened, and, by themselves, the words spoken between Artemis and Cameron didn't really reveal much. However, combined with the fact that Oliver could feel the sudden drop in temperature and Cameron's insistence that Artemis leave, he could come up with a pretty good idea of what had happened.

Cameron had accidently hurt Artemis with his powers.

Cameron, understandably, was probably horrified about what he had done and, terrified of making things worse, had pushed Artemis away. As understandable as Cameron's actions were, Oliver knew that it wasn't healthy, for either of them.

Not wanting to scare or upset Cameron, Oliver hesitantly entered back into the main room. He immediately saw Cameron sitting against the wall. His hands were gripping tightly at his hair and he was breathing in short quick gasps. It looked as if Cameron was seconds away from either crying, or having an all out panic attack.

Not quite sure of what he could do to help, Oliver sat down next to Cameron. He put his hand on the teenagers shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way. It had been a few years since Oliver had had to deal with an angsty teenager, and he doubted he had been any good at it even back then.

"So, what happened with Artemis?" Oliver asked after a minute. Cameron groaned and shuddered. He tightened his grip on his hair and Oliver could see a layer of frost beginning to cover the teenager's hair. This frost came from Cameron's hands, which were thinly covered in ice.

Cameron took in a shuddering breath. "I hurt her." He murmured in such a way that Oliver could barely understand him.

"It was an accident though, wasn't it?" Oliver pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. She's going to end up dying either way." Cameron said blankly and shrugged. He was acting like he didn't care, which Oliver knew wasn't the truth. He knew that Cameron did care, a lot. But Cameron was obviously afraid of his feelings, and was trying to cover them up.

"Hey, she's not going to die." Oliver said firmly. "I mean, an ice attack might cause some pretty bad frostbite, but-" Oliver stopped talking when Cameron let out a short sob.

"It wasn't frostbite." Cameron said shakily. He clenched his fists, digging his fingernails into his head. "I...I did _something_ , I'm not even sure what, and now her blood is turning to ice."

"You're not serious." Oliver frowned, though he knew that Cameron was being completely serious. Somehow, the teenager had made it so that a person would slowly freeze from the inside out. It was a terrifying concept, especially since Cameron probably didn't know how he had done it. "How do you know that's what's happening?"

"Because it's happened before." Cameron said simply. Oliver felt his own blood run cold at the implication. Had somebody else died from this?

"When?" Oliver narrowed his eyes. The ability to freeze people from the inside out was a dangerous one, and if Cameron had killed somebody else with this ability, even just accidentally...

"We were just little kids." Cameron whimpered. "It wasn't supposed to happen" Cameron tried to take in a deep breath, though it came as more of a gasp. "And now I hurt her again, and nobody's going to save her this time."

...Oh, so Artemis had been the victim both times. This was reassuring...not that Oliver was glad that this had happened to Artemis twice now! Oliver was just relieved that Cameron hadn't killed anybody, even with such a potentially fatal ability. And, if Artemis had been cured last time, then who was to say they couldn't cure her this time around?

"You know, _you_ could always save her." Oliver said.

"Yeah, sure." Cameron scoffed and glared at Oliver. "And how exactly would I do that?"

Oliver stared at Cameron. He had thought that the answer was kinda obvious. "Can't you just take the ice, or whatever it is, back?"

"Look, man, that's not how this works." Cameron scowled. "I can create ice, but no way in hell can I take it back."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Really? I find that hard to believe, considering I've seen you do it."

Cameron snapped his head up and stared at Oliver with wide disbelieving eyes. "What are you talking about?!"

Oliver blinked. Had Cameron not even realized what he had been doing? "Cameron, you retract your ice all the time." It was clear that the teenager didn't believe him, so Oliver decided that the best way to convince him was by showing him. "Can you go into ice form?" Oliver asked.

"What?" Cameron was confused by the request. "Why?"

"Trust me." Oliver said. Cameron frowned, but did as Oliver asked. Within seconds Cameron was covered from head to toe in ice armor. "Good. Now go back to normal." Cameron shot Oliver an annoyed glare, but did as he was told. Over the years Cameron had learned that it was much easier to do as you were ordered than to question it all the time.

"There. Happy?" Cameron asked sarcastically as he reverted back to his normal self. "Don't know what you think you were trying to prove, but-" Cameron grew quiet and looked at his arms which were no longer covered in ice. His eyes grew wide with realization.

"No way." Cameron muttered in disbelief. Oliver raised an eyebrow. It seemed like Cameron had finally realized what he had been able to do this whole time. Oliver found it a little hard to believe that Cameron was only realizing this just now.

"You really didn't know you could do it before?" Oliver asked.

"Well, of course I knew that I could go in and out of ice form, but I never realized just what that meant." Cameron said breathlessly as he ran a hand through his hair. Oliver couldn't blame Cameron for being stressed out by this revelation. After all, it wasn't everyday you find out that something that you've believed your whole life was a lie.

"You mean it wasn't explained to you?" Oliver asked. He had thought that Joar would have taught Cameron anything and everything about his powers. Unless, of course, Joar hadn't been the one to teach Cameron. "Who taught you anyways?"

"Crystal." Cameron answered. Oliver sighed and put a hand to his hand. Crystal Frost. He should have known.

Crystal Frost, AKA Killer Frost, was the only other ice villain besides Cameron who actually had powers and didn't use a gun or machine. Of course she would have been the one to teach Cameron how to use his powers. It also explained why she wouldn't have told him that when he was going out of ice form, he was retracting his ice. She never would have explained that taking back ice was something that he could do.

Killer Frost was arguably the most coldhearted and ruthless of all the ice villains. She didn't know the meaning of the word 'mercy'. She likely knew exactly how to retract snow or ice, but never did. Killer Frost used her ice to hurt and murder people, and that's not something that could be taken back. Since she never took back her ice, she didn't bother teaching Cameron how to do it. She had taught him just enough that he could go in and out of his ice form, no more.

"Well, the point is, if you can retract your ice armor, you should be able to do it with other forms of ice. Including what happened with Artemis." Oliver said.

Cameron frowned doubtfully, but Oliver could see hope hidden in his eyes. "You really think I can save her?"

"I don't think there's any harm in trying." Oliver said. He got to his feet and held out his hand to Cameron. The teenager hesitated for a moment, but took the offered hand. Oliver pulled the boy to his feet. All they had to do was go out and find Artemis, and even if Cameron couldn't figure out how to undo whatever he had done, they would just find another way. Whatever the case though, Oliver wasn't just going to let Cameron sit around in self-pity and loathing. The kid was filled with so much anger, especially towards himself, and it would just get worse if he kept on bottling everything up all the time and keeping to himself.

Oliver couldn't think of a long-term solution to help Cameron, but right now, the teenager was mostly angry at himself for hurting Artemis. So, if they found Artemis and figured out how to heal her, Cameron wouldn't be so angry about himself over it. Simple as that.

Before they could get anywhere though, the penthouse door got thrown open violently. Two guys let themselves in. Oliver didn't know who these guys were, but he immediately thought that they were trouble. Oliver could see recognition in Cameron's eyes, which meant that the teenager did know who they were, and he didn't seem very happy to see them.

For a moment after seeing the intruders, a brief look of panic came across Cameron's face. In an instant though it was gone and was immediately replaced by a cold, slightly annoyed look. If Oliver didn't know any better he would think that he had imagined the fear in Cameron's eyes. He knew he hadn't though. The fear had been real. Oliver knew that what he was seeing now was Cameron hiding his true emotions. The cool teenager act was just a mask that Cameron wore. After all, if nobody saw the true him, they wouldn't get the chance to judge him for it.

Oliver knew that this was what Cameron was doing, because Roy used to do basically the same thing. He would act all cool and pretend that he was tougher than he actually was because he didn't want to be seen as weak or not good enough. It seemed to Oliver that Cameron was doing relatively the same thing.

Cameron crossed his arms and glared cautiously at the intruders. "What do you guys want?" He asked. His tone was hard, but also with an underlying respect beneath it, which told Oliver that these guys were not to be trusted, but also not angered.

One of the guys stepped forward and put his hands up in a calming gesture. "Now, Junior, there's no need to act so cold. We're just here to do our job."

"Yeah? And that is?" Cameron scoffed. "Wait, let me guess. The Light wants to see me." Cameron had a cool air about him, but Oliver could see his hands shaking slightly. Cameron may be acting indifferent, but Oliver knew that he was terrified. And Oliver couldn't blame him. If The Light really did want to see him, it probably wouldn't go very well.

"You made quite a scene earlier." The man said. He began walking around the room in a seemingly casual way. This guy made Cameron nervous though, so wherever he moved to, Cameron turned so that he was always facing him. The second guy was also looking around the room, but Oliver got the feeling that he was up to something.

Cameron barely paid any attention to the second guy. In his eyes, the guy who was talking to him was the main threat. To make up for Cameron's lack of attention, Oliver made sure to keep a close eye on the second guy. If he tried anything while Cameron was distracted, Oliver would put a stop to it immediately.

"So The Light wants to talk to me about how I messed up?" Cameron asked, a twinge of nervousness in his voice. The guy he was facing shrugged.

"Look, Junior, all we know is that we're supposed to bring you in." The guy said. "We didn't ask questions."

Cameron and Oliver both tensed. 'Bring you in' wasn't exactly a phrase that said that this was just an invitation. These guys were planning on forcing Cameron to come with them. Yeah, because that would get the teenager to be willing to do work for The Light.

Cameron began to gather ice in his hands. He wasn't stupid enough to attack these guys because they worked for The Light. Any attack against these guys would be seen as an attack against Them. However, Cameron wanted to be prepared just in case he had to defend himself.

Cameron was so busy keeping an eye on the first guy that he had almost completely forgotten that he hadn't come alone. While he was distracted the second guy began to quietly approach Cameron from behind. Oliver grew slightly nervous. He reached for his bow and quiver that he had put on the ground earlier.

The second guy that Cameron hadn't noticed yet reached into his coat and brought out something that made Oliver's blood boil. It was an inhibitor collar, just like the kind that used to be used on the convicts at Belle Reve. Nowadays The Light used the collars to control their army of meta-human slaves. If these guys thought that Oliver was just going to let them stick that thing around Cameron's neck, they had another thing coming.

Oliver nocked one of his blunt arrows and quickly fired it at the guy before he could put the collar on Cameron. The arrow hit the guy in the hand, and while it didn't impale him, it certain delivered quite the blow. The guy dropped the collar, yelled out in pain and clutched at his hand.

All the attention was on Oliver now. Cameron went from staring in shock at Oliver, to looking in horror at the collar that was now on the floor. The two guys both glowered at Oliver. They were clearly furious that he had interferred.

"Big mistake." The first guy said darkly. He began moving towards Oliver. "You're going to regret that."

"I doubt that." Oliver said as he nocked another arrow. If this guy was looking for a fight, he was going to get it. Before either of them could do anything to each other, a blast of ice shot just over the guy's shoulder. It didn't actually hit him, but it did cause him to move his attention back to Cameron.

"What? Are you going to try to fight us?" The guy laughed. "Don't be stupid, Junior. You won't win."

"I know." Cameron said seriously. He made eye contact with Oliver and smiled sadly. "But I'm not going to let anybody else get hurt because of me."

...What? No!

"Cameron, don't!" Oliver shouted, but it was too late. Cameron ice blasted a barrier between Oliver and the two guys, making it so that they couldn't get to him...and he couldn't help Cameron. The ice barrier was thick and there was no way he would be able to break through it in time. Oliver wished that he had thought to bring one of his explosive arrows or something. As it was though, he was useless.

The two goons had also realized that it would be a waste of time to try to get to Oliver now, so they decided to just cut their loses and leave him. Cameron was the one that they had come for anyways. Growling in annoyance, the guy that Oliver had hit with the arrow picked up the collar and slapped it around Cameron's neck before he could try to fight them.

The ice wall was clear, which only gave Oliver a good view when one of the guys brought out a remote and pushed the button on it. Oliver could do nothing as Cameron doubled over and cried out in pain when a shock of electricity came through the collar. The shock continued until Cameron, unable to handle the pain anymore, fell unconscious.

"Cameron!" Oliver pounded his fist desperately against the ice, which did little good. The two guys ignored him, grabbed Cameron, and left without another word. Oliver continued to hit the ice, but a few minutes later it became clear that the ice wasn't going to break anytime soon. He wasn't going anywhere.

Oliver groaned in frustration. He had messed up, and probably made things even worse for Cameron. But if he hadn't gotten involved, they would have just tried to take Cameron anyways. Either way, things would have gotten messed up, and Oliver hadn't been planning on dealing with any of this when he had come to check on his penthouse.

Oliver hated to admit it, but this was probably getting to be more than he could handle by himself, and he imagined that things would only get worse from here. Oliver might have been able to handle things with Cameron and Artemis, and whatever The Light was up to now, except for the fact that he wasn't going to get out from behind this stupid barrier of ice anytime soon...at least, not without help.

Oliver groaned and brought his hand to his ear, turning on the earpiece. As much as he hated it, Oliver would need help getting out of here...oh, and it would probably be good if the league knew about what had happened.

"Hey, Batman?" Oliver said into his comlink "We've got a problem."


	12. Chapter 12

Artemis shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, which did little to warm her up. Artemis was unused to feeling cold. When she was younger her father used to make her endure extreme heat and cold so she would grow used to them. It had just been part of her training, and as a result of it, she never really was bothered by the cold.

But this wasn't just a normal chill. It felt to Artemis as if her insides were freezing. Kind of like the chills that one gets when they have a fever, except it felt even worse. Artemis knew that this had been caused by Cameron. She didn't blame him though. Artemis knew that sometimes he got emotional and lost control. She didn't exactly hold that against him.

What she did hold against him though was the fact that he was trying to push her away. Again! Why was it that Cameron sometimes acted like he wanted nothing more than to be with Artemis, and yet he continually did his best to stay as far away from her as possible? What was his deal?

Artemis scowled and cursed Cameron's idiocy under her breath as she left the stupid penthouse and began to head downstairs. She didn't want to just leave Cameron alone. That was never what she had wanted. Unfortunately, over the past ten years if there was one thing that Artemis had learned it was that Cameron could be the most stubborn person in the world sometimes, and when he didn't want to see her, he _really_ didn't want to see her.

It wasn't like Artemis was going to let Cameron's stubbornness keep her away from him forever. Not this time. No, Artemis just planned on leaving him alone for a bit, just long enough to give him a chance to cool down, as well as give _her_ the chance to find a way to make this stupid chill go away.

When Artemis got back outside she found Dick and Wally right where she had left them...well, not _right_ where she had left them. Instead of standing right outside the door of the building, the two boys were sitting in the middle of the road, chatting.

Artemis smiled slightly at the sight. If anybody else were to see the two of them, they never would have guessed that the boys had only met less than an hour before. They seemed like best friends. Artemis was glad for Dick. She may not know much about the younger boy, but she did know that he was lonely. Being around Wally was obviously doing good for him.

"What are you idiots doing?" Artemis' tone was harsher than she meant it to be. She couldn't help it though. She always acted more aggressive when she was uncomfortable or in pain. Wally and Dick turned to face Artemis, and by their looks of shock Artemis could assume that she wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her discomfort.

Wally noticed how Artemis was hugging herself and shivering. He quickly got to his feet, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around Artemis' shoulders. It didn't do much to warm her up, but she appreciated the gesture all the same.

Dick took one look at Artemis and quickly deduced what had happened. "What did Cameron do?"

Artemis scowled. "Why do you just assume that he did something?" Artemis asked sourly.

Dick raised an eyebrow. "Did he?"

"No...well, yes, but he didn't try to!" Artemis said defensively.

"I never thought that he did." Dick said.

"Hold on a second." Wally said. "Your friend did this to you? How?"

"He's a meta-human. He can control ice." Artemis said simply.

"That's questionable." Dick said as he examined Artemis' arms, trying to find an injury caused by ice.

"Hey, go easy on him." Wally frowned in an almost pout like way. "Having powers is harder than it looks. I know that I still lose control sometimes." Dick's serious expression loosened up a bit.

"Right. I forgot." Dick apologetically. "It's been awhile since I've been around people who haven't had their powers for at least a few decades."

Wally furrowed his brow. "What do you-" His train of thought stopped suddenly when Artemis' legs seemed to give out from beneath her. Wally caught her before she could fall to the ground. "Artemis! Are you okay?"

"What did Cameron do to you?" Dick asked, his eyes wide.

"I-i don't know." Artemis shuddered and leaned closer to Wally's touch. "I'm not even sure if _he_ knows. But if feels like my insides are going to freeze."

"Hang on. The cold is coming from _inside_ you?" Wally asked, equal parts concerned and confused. "I've never known an ice attack to do something like that."

"Me either." Dick said, a calculated look on his face. "This may just be nothing. A temporary side effect."

"Yeah, or it could be a big freaking deal." Wally took Artemis in his arms and, ignoring her protests, held her bridal style. He turned so his back was facing Dick. "Get on."

Dick knew immediately what Wally was thinking. "Where are we going?"

"Artemis needs help, and I have some friends who just might be able to do something for her." Wally said.

"I don't _need_ anything." Artemis said stubbornly. Wally ignored her protests.

"They're aren't too far from here, but it'll still be faster if I run us there." Wally continued. "So get on my back."

"If you're going to be running us there, shouldn't you wear goggles or something to protect your eyes?" Dick asked. Or did Wally not do that anymore?

"Right, I almost forgot about those." Wally said sheepishly. "There's a pair in my back pocket. Can you get them and put them on me?"

"You know it would probably be easier, faster, and way less awkward if you just put Artemis down for a second and do it yourself." Dick pointed out. Nevertheless, he grabbed Wally's goggles for him and struggled for a moment to get the goggles over Wally's eyes. He had been right about it being awkward, and Dick was pretty sure that they didn't feel very comfortable, but Wally didn't make any complaints, so Dick let it be.

Once Wally was wearing his goggles and Dick was situated on his back, he took off at lightning speed. Dick would have liked to see where they were going, but they were moving too fast and the rush of wind was making his eyes hurt. Dick ducked his head and held on to Wally as tight as he could. Dick wasn't really a fan of moving at such a fast speed, and he just hoped that this whole thing would be over soon. At the same time though, he didn't want it to end.

Fortunately (and unfortunately) speedsters had a tendency to get places quickly, and it wasn't long before they had reached their destination. It was a cave that Dick assumed was on the small mountain just outside of Star City, because he could tell that they hadn't gone very far, and there were only so many caves near the city.

The thing was, this wasn't a normal cave. For one thing, it looked like a cross between a normal boring cave, and a high tech lair or something. Kind of like the Batcave, except not nearly as impressive. Also, the cave was much too large to naturally be a part of the mountain that Dick was still pretty sure it was a part of.

"What is this place?" Artemis asked as Wally put her down.

"Uh, it's kinda like a refuge for anybody who needs it." Wally said. Dick immediately understood that this was the hideout that Wally and the others had been using for the past few years.

"And you brought us here?" Dick raised an eyebrow. It seemed to be a rather hasty decision. Yeah, he and Artemis were both trustworthy, but what if they weren't?

"Well, yeah." Wally shrugged. "Why wouldn't I."

"Because you're not supposed to bring strangers here." A voice from behind said. The three teenagers jumped and turned to face a young man who seemed to be a few years older than them. Dick's breath hitched at the sight of another familiar friendly face...even if he didn't look very friendly at the moment. He actually looked very angry.

"They needed help, Roy." Wally said. "What did you want me to do, just leave them out there?"

"That is exactly what you should have done." Roy said angrily. "Do you have any idea who those two are?"

"Uh...yes?" Wally said questionably, which meant that he didn't know who they were. Or, more importantly, who their parents were.

"Artemis Crock and Richard Grayson." Roy said impatiently, and Wally's eyes widened in recognition. He may not have recognized them on sight, but he was familiar with those names. "They're villains."

"Technically, we're the children of villains." Artemis said snidely. She hated it when somebody categorized her as a villain simply because her dad had been one. Did nobody stop to think that maybe she didn't want to follow in his footsteps?

"And Bruce Wayne isn't exactly a villain." Wally pointed out.

"And he's not technically my father either." Dick added. Roy glared harshly at the three of them.

"The point is, you shouldn't have brought them here." Roy said.

"Why not?" Wally asked. "Aren't we supposed to be the heroes here? And heroes help people, regardless of who they, or their parents, are." Roy glared at Wally, whose glare was just as fierce. After a minute Roy scowled and gave in.

"Exactly what kind of help do they need?" Roy asked. "They look fine to me."

"Artemis says that it feels like she's freezing from the inside." Dick said. Roy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He reached behind him and grabbed an arrow from the quiver on his back. Without a word, Roy strode over to Artemis, grabbed her arm, and used the arrow to cut at it slightly.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Artemis snatched her arm away from Roy and held it protectively against her chest.

"Roy! What was that for?" Wally admonished. Roy held out the arrow to show them that Artemis' blood was in a semi-frozen state.

"What is that?" Dick asked. He had never seen anything like it before.

"Her blood is beginning to freeze over." Roy said as he cleaned off his arrow and put it away. "She will die if the effects of what Junior did to her are not reversed."

"Die?" Wally's eyes widened and his voice cracked slightly.

"Hang on." Artemis held up a hand and glared at Roy suspiciously. "How did you know that Cameron did this?"

"Because he did last time." Roy said.

"Last time?" Artemis felt a chill run through her body that had nothing to do with her blood freezing. "This has happened before?"

"About ten years ago." Roy said. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. You were unconscious the whole time." Roy though remembered that night clearly. He remembered staying inside the cave as Brave Bow went out to speak with Sportsmaster and Icicle. A few minutes later his guardian had returned to the shelter of the cave with a young Artemis in his arms. Brave Bow had healed the small girl, and Roy had assisted in whatever ways he could. Even back then though, Roy had wondered why.

Artemis was the daughter of a villain, and would probably grow up to be just like him. Why should they heal somebody who would just grow up to be evil? When Roy had questioned Brave Bow, his guardian told him something that he still remembered to this day.

" _This child's soul is innocent." Brave Bow had said. "And even if it were not, I would still heal her."_

" _But why?" Nine year old Roy Harper had asked._

" _Because it is not my part to pass judgement upon another." Brave Bow had said. "It is my responsibility, however, to help who I can, whether I feel they deserve it or not."_

Roy didn't always agree with the philosophies and teachings of his old guardians and mentors, but he did his best to respect them. Treating others with kindness had always been important to Brave Bow, and Roy knew it would be disrespectful to his memory to turn somebody in need of help away. Besides, what would have been the point of helping Brave Bow heal Artemis if he was just going to let her die ten years later?

"Alright." Roy said coldly. "The main room is just down that tunnel. Somebody down there might be able to help you. I'm not making any promises though."

"Why can't you just do what you did last time?" Artemis asked. Roy clenched his fists.

" _I_ didn't do anything." Roy said. "My guardian, Brave Bow, was the one who healed you. But he died of cancer a few years ago."

A guilty look crossed over Artemis' face, but Roy ignored it. He wasn't looking for her pity. As Artemis began to make her way to the main room, Roy turned to Dick, who was frowning and touching at his ear, which did, in fact, look injured.

"Don't tell me you need help too." Roy said.

"No, I'm fine." A thoughtful look came over Dick's face. "Actually, there is something that I need." He took a small object out of his ear. Roy bristled when he saw what it was. An earpiece, albeit a broken one. Still, what on earth was this kid doing with an earpiece?

"Bruce can get overprotective sometimes, and he likes to keep tabs on me when I leave Gotham." Dick explained. "I haven't called in for a while though, and he's probably getting worried." That was an understatement. Dick knew that the earpieces also had a tracking system in them, and Bruce had probably been freaking out ever since his earpiece had gone offline.

"If I had another earpiece, I can easily hack it onto the frequency that I need." Dick said. Roy frowned. Did this brat seriously think that they were just going to hand over one of their earpieces? Not likely!

...And then Wally handed Dick his own earpiece.

"Wally! What the _hell_ are you doing!" Roy shouted. Wally looked at him innocently.

"What's the big deal? He just wants to call home." Wally said. Roy shook his head. How could Wally be acting so naively? He was usually much smarter than this.

Wally, a word. Now." Roy growled. Without waiting for a response he grabbed Wally's arm and dragged him into another room where they could speak privately.

"Do you have any idea what he could do with your earpiece?" Roy berated. "He could use it to get information about you. About all of us."

"Well, yeah, theoretically he could." Wally admitted. "But Dick's my friend, he wouldn't do that. We can trust him."

"Trust a guy that you met tonight? Are you insane?" Roy hissed. He wondered just what had gotten into Wally. Yeah, he was always a friendly guy, but he wasn't usually this trusting. Wally was smart and logical. He should know better than this. He _did_ know better than this. So what could have possibly possessed him to befriend and trust those two?

Then suddenly, it his Roy like a ton of bricks. That Grayson kid's personality. His dark hair, short stature, and even that impish little grin of his, it was just like…

"No." Roy sighed exasperatedly and ran a hand through his hair. "Wally, don't do this."

"Don't do what, exactly?" Wally asked with fake innocence

"You gotta know that Dick isn't Him." Roy said directly.

Wally stiffened. "I-I know that." He said defensively.

"You're not acting like it." Roy crossed his arms and looked at his younger friend sternly.

"What, so it's a crime now to just befriend somebody?" Wally asked.

"We both know that that's not what you're doing." Roy said.

"W-well so what if their personalities are similar?" Wally asked defiantly. "What's the big deal? I'm just-" But Roy had heard enough. Wally's obsession had gone on for far too long, and it needed to stop. Roy couldn't let Wally get close to the child of a villain, just because the kid reminded him of an old friend of his. It was high time that Wally moved on.

"Robin is dead, Wally!" Roy shouted. "He's not coming back. Get over it."

The room was silent for a minute. By taking one look at Wally's face Roy could tell that he had gone too far. Before he could apologize though, Wally had hightailed it out of there. Roy groaned and hit the wall in anger. He had been way too harsh with Wally, and he felt like such a jerk for it. But Wally had to understand. He needed to accept what had happened in the past and move on from it...they all had to.

Roy sighed and left the small room. Knowing Wally, he was probably off running somewhere to calm down and clear his head, and he wouldn't be back for awhile. Roy would make things up to him then. While he waited though, Roy figured he might as well check in on the others and make sure that everything was still going fine.


	13. Chapter 13

Dick held Wally's earpiece in his hand, but didn't dare do anything with it yet. Roy had seemed pretty angry when he had dragged Wally into another room. Dick had heard them arguing in there. He hadn't heard what was said, but he could tell that it must not have been good because a minute later Wally had come running out.

Wally had been moving so quickly that Dick couldn't tell what state he was in or how he was feeling, but when Roy came out a moment later, looking even more pissed off than before, Dick knew it hadn't been good.

Roy quickly glanced around the room and, not seeing Wally anywhere in there, scowled and glared at Dick. As if it was _his_ fault that the speedster had run off.

"How'd your little chat go?" Dick asked, partially to rile Roy up even more, and partially because he was actually concerned and curious.

"Shut up, Grayson." Roy growled. Clearly, he wasn't in the mood for talking about it. He glanced down at the earpiece that Dick was holding and frowned. "I thought you were going to hack into that thing."

"I thought you didn't want me to." Dick responded.

"Somehow I get the feeling that you'll end up doing it anyways." Roy said. Dick shrugged, because Roy did kinda have a point there. "I'm warning you now though. If you even _think_ about using that thing to harm any of us in any way at all, I will make you regret it." Roy threatened.

"Don't worry, I won't." Dick said sincerely. Roy glared at him suspiciously, but said nothing else on the subject. He began to head off to the main room where he had sent Artemis off to earlier. Before leaving though, Roy turned back to Dick and raised an eyebrow.

"You coming, Grayson?" Roy asked. "Because I'm not going to leave you in here by yourself."

Dick smirked. "Yeah, I'm coming." He pocketed the earpiece and swore that he would get around to using it to contact Bruce and the rest of the league. That would have to wait though. For now, he really should see how Artemis was doing.

Dick followed Roy into the main room. While the older boy went into the corner to talk to Kaldur and M'gann, Dick made his way to the couch where Artemis was sitting solemnly.

"Hey, you okay?" Dick asked as he sat down next to Artemis.

"My blood is turning to ice. How do you think I am?" Artemis snapped.

"That's not what I meant." Dick said. Artemis frowned and looked down at her hands.

"I'm not really sure." Artemis said slowly. "I just...Roy said that this all happened ten years ago, which was right around the time when Cameron just suddenly started to ignore me for no reason. Or, at least, no reason that he ever told me about."

"You think that this has something to do with it?" Dick asked. Now that he thought about it though, it made sense.

"It probably does." Artemis scowled and clenched her fists. "Cameron is such a jerk. I can't believe he would all but cut off our friendship, just because of an accident that happened so long ago. I mean, why would he think that that was a good idea?"

"He was only a kid at the time." Dick reminded her. "And accident or not, he almost killed you. I don't know about you, but I think that something like that would scare almost any kid."

Artemis' expression softened at the reminder that Cameron had just been a scared little kid when this all started. "So he avoided me because he was scared of hurting me again?"

"Probably." Dick shrugged. If there was one thing he had learned these past three years, it was that people, especially children, could carry a lot of anger towards themselves. Especially if they had done something that had hurt somebody close to them, or worse.

"He's such an idiot." Artemis frowned. "I never asked him to protect me like that. I never _wanted_ him to protect me like that. All it ended up accomplishing was turning both of our lives into a living hell."

"He probably thought he was doing the right thing." Dick pointed out. "Cameron probably thought that it was all worth it to keep you safe."

"But it wasn't!" Artemis shouted fiercely. "I would rather live with the constant chance of being hurt than live without my best friend."

Dick smiled. "Why don't you go tell him that?" He suggested. Artemis stared at him blankly, as if the thought hadn't even occurred to her.

"You know what? I think I will." Artemis stood up, but was immediately pushed back down again by a gentle yet strong hand.

"You're not going anywhere." A teenager that Dick had never met before, but certainly recognized, said. Seriously, if Dick didn't know any better, he would think that this guy was Superman, except younger. The teenager caught Dick staring at him and stared right back, obviously a little annoyed.

"Sorry, I just...you look familiar." Dick said, embarrassed that he had been staring at the guy. He didn't normally do things like that.

"Don't worry about it. I get that all the time." The Superman lookalike said, all signs of annoyance gone. In fact, he looked kind of amused. "My name is Conner, or Superboy. I'm actually a clone of Superman's." He said it so casually, as if telling people that he was a clone was a normal occurrence for him.

Dick was caught off guard. A Superman clone? Well, that certainly explained the resemblance. Dick wondered where this Conner had come from, or if the real Superman was aware of his existence. Taking advantage of Dick's stunned silence, Conner turned back to Artemis.

"I can't just let you run off." Conner said as he handed Artemis a mug with some kind of hot drink in it. "I may not know how to stop what's happening to you, but I somehow doubt that getting yourself excited over nothing is going to help."

"It's not over nothing-" Artemis objected.

"The point is, you need to rest for now." Conner said. "At least just until we get a better idea of what to do."

Artemis glared at him, but Conner was stubborn and wasn't going to be moving an inch on this. She was stuck. "...Fine." Artemis grumbled.

"Good. Now, drink that. It might help." Conner said. Artemis, who hated being told what to do, even if it was for her own good, scowled, but still did as she was told.

As Artemis drank, Dick figured he should probably get started on the earpiece. He didn't think it would take very long to get the device onto the same frequency as the comlinks used by The Justice League. Still, it would probably be better to let them know what was going on sooner rather than latter.

Artemis watched over Dick's shoulder as he worked, which didn't bother him in the least bit. People watching him as he hacked never slowed him down or distracted him at all, and it didn't today. Within just a few minutes Dick thought he had gotten the comlink connected to the frequency that he needed.

"You finally going to use that thing?" Roy asked from directly behind him, which caused Dick to jump slightly. He hadn't noticed that Roy and the others had finished their conversation and had been watching him as he worked.

"Yeah." Dick said, wincing ever so slightly at the nervous and suspicious glances his old friends were giving him. "You know, if it makes you guys feel better, we can turn the sound up to the max on this thing so you can all hear everything too. Then if you guys hear anything you don't like, you can stop me. Okay?"

M'gann looked instantly relieved by the suggestion. Kaldur obviously had some doubts, but, being the kind-hearted guy that he was, who always liked to see the good in others, agreed with Dick's proposition. Roy still looked suspicious of Dick, but he said nothing. Dick took that as a 'go ahead'.

Dick tinkered with the comlink for another moment to make it loud enough that they all would be able to hear it just fine. He then turned it on.

"Hello, Bruce? You there?" Dick spoke into the comlink. It was silent for a moment, just barely long enough for Dick to wonder if he had connected to the right frequency, before a voice came in from the other side.

"Dick? Where have you been?" Bruce's voice was stern and angry, but Dick, who had been living with the man for years, could recognize the worry in his voice.

"It's a long story." Dick said as he glanced at his old friends. "I swear though, I have a _very_ good explanation."

"Then start talking." Bruce said impatiently. Dick opened his mouth to explain, but before he could actually say anything another voice came on over the comlink.

"Dick, is that you?" the relieved voice said. Dick grimaced slightly and glanced over at Roy who glared at him, even more suspicious than before. Dick wasn't sure whether this was because Roy wondered who else would be connected to this comlink frequency, or if it was because he recognized the voice of his old mentor.

"Uh, yeah, Oliver, it's me." Dick said.

"Oh thank God." Oliver muttered. "Now I don't have to worry about Bruce trying to kill me because I couldn't find you."

"Couldn't find him? You didn't even look." Bruce growled.

"I was going to get around to it. I just got held up." Oliver defended himself.

"You were going to come look for me?" Dick asked. Had Bruce really been so worried about him that he would send one of the league to find him?

"Yeah, I mean, I was already in the neighborhood to check in on my penthouse. It had been broken into." Oliver explained. "I thought that it would just be a quick visit, but things got...complicated."

"Wait a second." Artemis frowned thoughtfully and she looked at Dick in confusion. "How do you know Oliver Queen?" Dick froze at her words. He should have realized that she would easily be able to piece things together. After all, there were only so many guys named Oliver that had a penthouse in Star City that had been broken into that night. Dick wasn't necessarily worried about Artemis knowing who he was talking to, but this certainly wasn't the way he had planned for the big reveal to go.

"...What?" Roy's eyes widened and he looked so taken aback that Dick kinda felt sorry for him. Roy quickly hid his shock beneath his usual cold demeanor. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Artemis. "What was that name you just said?" Dick was surprised to hear a slight quiver in Roy's voice. Artemis looked shocked by Roy's reaction as well.

"Uh, Oliver Queen?" Artemis said it as a question, as if asking why that name would cause Roy to act this way. Roy glared harshly at Dick and Artemis and looked about two seconds away from firing one of his arrows at the two of them.

"Dick, is somebody there with you?" Oliver's voice came over the comlink. Dick figured that not only could everyone in this room hear anything coming from the earpiece, but it also picked up noise from all of them. Which meant that Oliver and Bruce, and anybody else, should they be listening, would know that Dick was, indeed, not alone.

Dick took the comlink, but before he could say anything Roy snatched it out of his hand, a look of pure fury on his face. For a moment Dick was worried that Roy would crush the earpiece in his hand. Roy instead decided to express his anger in another way.

"Who the hell is this?!" Roy shouted into the comlink. There was silence on the other end, which did nothing to calm Roy down. "Look, I don't know who you think you are, but if you think you can just-"

"...Roy?" Oliver's voice came through the comlink, a disbelieving yet hopeful tone to his voice.

"...Oliver?" Roy's voice cracked slightly. "But, how-"

"Dick," Bruce said over the comlink, his tone made it clear that he was expecting an explanation.

"I told you I had a good reason for disappearing like that." Dick said. Roy looked kind of uneasy, as if he wasn't sure what to think. Dick supposed that that was to be expected though. These guys had gone for three years thinking that their mentors and guardians were dead. Obviously, finding out the truth would come as a bit of a shock to them. It would take some time for them to come to terms with things. Dick thought that maybe this whole reunion would go better if it was in person rather than over an old comlink.

"Oliver, are you still in Star City?" Dick asked. It he was, it would be all too easy to meet up with him.

"Uh, yes." Oliver said reluctantly. "I'm a little stuck though."

Dick frowned. "What happened."

"Icicle Junior used his ice to trap him in his penthouse." Bruce said disapprovingly.

"What? Why would Cameron do something like that?" Artemis' eyes widened.

"He was trying to protect Oliver." Bruce said.

Dick tilted his head slightly. This situation was starting to sound a little backwards to him. "Protect him from what?"

"Is Cameron okay?" Artemis asked, concerned.

The comlink was silent as the older heroes tried to figure out how to tell them what had happened. Finally, Bruce, not wanting to beat around the bush, stated the simple truth. "He has been captured by The Light."

"What?!" Artemis paled noticeably. "Why would The Light capture him? He was going to _work_ for them."

"Eh, that's debatable." Oliver said.

"Their intentions hadn't been so malicious at first." Bruce said. "But then _somebody_ decided to intervene."

"They were going to use that stupid collar on him." Oliver protested. "You can't tell me that they didn't have malicious intentions."

Artemis clenched her fists. She couldn't just listen to them talk about this anymore. "That's it. I'm going after him."

"No, you're not." Bruce said sternly. "You're coming here. We have some medics that may be able to do something to stop the ice inside of you."

"Let _us_ deal with Cameron, Artemis." Oliver added.

Artemis frowned and glared at the earpiece. She was not happy with how everybody seemed to know about what Cameron had done to her, and they were all treating her like a child because of it. Yes, her blood was turning to ice, but that did not make _her_ as fragile and breakable as ice was.

She didn't care what they all said. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing when Cameron needed help. He was her friend, and she was going to be there for him. Artemis stood up suddenly and left the room. Regardless of what everybody else thought, she _was_ going to help Cameron.

"Artemis, wait." Dick called as he ran to catch up with her.

"No, I'm not waiting." Artemis said without turning or slowing down. "I'm going after Cameron, and I'm not letting you stop me."

"I wasn't going to try to stop you." Dick said. "I want to help you." This stopped Artemis in her tracks.

"You're not?" She asked.

"No. Like I told you last time you went after Cameron, I would do the same thing." Dick said. Artemis smiled at him, grateful that he understood.

"You aren't seriously going to just run off and save your boyfriend, are you?" Roy, who had apparently followed them, spoke up. Artemis crossed her arms.

"Look, whether you like it or not, we're going." Artemis snapped.

"Yeah, I got that." Roy smirked. "It might be faster if you don't go by foot though."

"You got any better ideas?" Artemis asked sarcastically, not really expecting an answer.

"In fact, I do." Roy led the two of them to a nearby room which turned out to be a garage of sorts. There were a couple of motorcycles and other vehicles in there. Roy picked up two helmets and tossed them to Dick and Artemis.

"I imagine you'll find your friend quicker if you take one of these." Roy said. Dick smirked and hopped on one of the bikes. Artemis climbed on behind him.

"Thank you." Artemis said reluctantly. As Dick revved the motorcycle, Artemis shivered. She could feel the cold spreading through her body getting worse. She didn't care though. She knew that she should be concerned at just how serious this chill might get, but she wasn't. The only thing she was concerned about was Cameron.

She just hoped that he was okay.


	14. Chapter 14

Cameron woke up slowly, and immediately wished that he had just stayed asleep or unconscious or whatever he had been, because he did not feel very well at _all._

Not only did he feel completely drained of energy, but his whole body felt weird and his muscles were sore. His head was hurting like crazy and he felt slightly nauseous. He also felt warmer than he usually was, and he didn't know why. Usually his core body temperature was pretty low, a side effect of his cyrokinesis. The only times he could remember feeling actually warm or hot was when he had overexerted himself with his powers. Cameron was pretty sure that he hadn't done that this time though. It had to be for a different reason.

Wanting to get a better idea of what had happened, Cameron sat up, groaned at the pain that went through his body because of the sudden movement, and looked around at his surroundings. He immediately recognized where he was, though wondered how he had gotten there. Hadn't he been in a penthouse before? So what was he doing back here in the office that used to belong that his father and Sportsmaster?

Cameron turned his head to get a better look at the room that he hadn't been in ever since his father had died, about three years ago. Immediately Cameron let out a sharp cry of pain when the movement caused his neck to start hurting. _A lot_.

His neck hurt like the rest of his body did, except so much worse. Cameron instinctively brought a hand to his neck and was surprised when he felt something metal rather than skin. Cameron felt at the metal with both hands and quickly deduced that it was a collar like thing. He didn't know what exactly it was, or what it was for, but he knew that he didn't like it.

Cameron raised a hand and tried to use it to freeze the stupid collar thing so that he could just shatter it right off. For some reason though, it didn't work. No short ice blast came shooting out of his hand.

Cameron frowned and looked curiously at his hands. He tried to summon ice again, but, once again, nothing happened. There was no ice. No frost. He didn't even feel a slight chill in his hands. There was just...nothing.

Cameron felt a wave of panic come over him. His breathing became short and quick His powers weren't working. _Why the_ hell _weren't his powers working?!_ Cameron tried to force himself to calm down before he started hyperventilating, because freaking out wouldn't do any good. He needed to breathe, focus, and try to remember what the heck had happened.

Last he remembered he had been back at that penthouse talking with that Oliver guy, Green Arrow, then some guys had shown up. Guys that worked for The Light. Cameron remembered stopping them from attacking Oliver and while he was distracted doing that one of the guys had slapped something around his neck. That must've been this stupid collar. After that had come the pain, like an electrical shock or something.

...Wait a minute.

This collar. An electrical shock. A feeling of weakness. An inability to use his powers. Cameron shuddered when he realized just what the collar was. It was an inhibitor collar, specifically made to restrain a person's powers. What was scary was that each collar had to be programmed on the exact power it was meant to block. Besides him and Crystal, there really weren't very many, or any, metahumans that used ice. So for The Light to just happen to have one on hand was a frightening thought. As if they had predicted that they would have to use it.

But _why_ did The Light feel the need to use the collar on him. Just what were they planning? Were they even up to anything at all, or was this just some sick, twisted way to control him?

Cameron stiffened when he heard the door unlock, which meant that somebody had seriously locked him in here. Cameron turned towards the door and just wished that his powers were working. Without his ice he was completely defenseless, and he hated it.

The door opened slowly and Cameron scowled when he saw who was coming into the room. Lex freaking Luthor. He should have known.

"What do you want?" Cameron growled. He tensed and became more nervous when Luthor shut and locked the door behind him. Cameron realized just how weird it felt to not have the feeling of frost on his fingertips accompany his feelings of anxiety. Stupid collar.

"There's no need to be nervous." Luthor said in that calm, patronizing voice of his. "I'm just here to talk."

"Yeah, I can tell." Cameron scoffed darkly, gesturing to the locked door and the collar around his neck. He knew that he should be more careful and civil, because he was treading on dangerous ground. But he had been brought in against his will, locked up, and had his powers blocked. Cameron believed that he had every right to be irritated.

Cameron should have known better than to let his irritation show so obviously, because it was _not_ a good idea to get mad at a member of The Light. Cameron was violently reminded of this when Luthor took something out of his pocket. Before Cameron could get a good look at it and figure out what it was he felt a shock of electricity from the inhibitor collar.

Cameron cringed and doubled over in pain. It didn't hurt as much as it did last time, and the shock certainly wasn't bad enough that it would knock him out again. It still hurt like hell though. The shock itself ended as quickly as it had started, but he could still feel the after effects of it.

"Are you going to be civil now?" Luthor asked, his hand on the remote that probably controlled the collar. Cameron glared at him, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He just nodded. "Good." Luthor smirked. "I really am just here to talk. Once you answer one question of mine you will be free to go."

"What?" Cameron asked, making sure to keep the bite out of his voice this time. The last thing he wanted to do was be respectful toward this guy, but he also didn't want to get electrocuted again. At times like this it was best to just go along with the rules that other people laid out. Play their game and you won't be hated or get hurt. That was what his father had taught him.

"I simply want to ask about this." Luthor said as he brought out a familiar looking blunt arrow. Cameron felt a brief moment of panic when he saw it. That was Oliver's arrow. The one that he had shot at the guys who had tried, and succeeded, to take Cameron. One of those goons must have grabbed it and brought it to Luthor.

"An arrow? What about it?" Cameron asked. On the outside he seemed calm and oblivious. On the inside though, Cameron was very nearly panicking. He didn't let his fear show though. He couldn't.

"Who does it belong to?" Luthor asked. This was the exact question that Cameron had been afraid of, because it was the one question that he couldn't answer.

Cameron believed that he knew why Luthor wanted to know whose arrow it was. When Oliver had fired that arrow he had attacked men who worked directly for The Light, which was seen as an attack against The Light themselves. The only people who had the guts anymore to stand up against The Light were those that were part of some sort of resistance group.

Cameron knew though that Oliver wasn't part of just any resistance. He was a member of _The_ resistance. The Justice League. They were the only people who had any hopes of taking down The Light and bringing order back to the world. The Justice League's greatest advantage at the moment was that nobody was aware that they were still around. This meant that they would have the element of surprise when the opportune moment for them to strike arose.

That would all be ruined if Cameron told Luthor the information that he wanted. Even if he only mentioned Oliver's civilian name, how could Cameron be sure that Luthor didn't know Green Arrow's identity? Or that he wouldn't be able to figure it out? And even if nobody ever found out that Oliver was the Green Arrow, Cameron still wouldn't rat him out.

Just like he had told Oliver before, he wasn't going to let anybody else get hurt because of him. It had been _Cameron_ that The Light's goons had wanted. Oliver had never had anything to do with it. The only reason that Oliver had interfered was because he had been trying to protect him, because that was what heroes did.

Now it was Cameron's turn to do the protecting. Oliver's identity as Green Arrow. The existence of The Justice League. Cameron was going to keep it all a secret, no matter what happened to him. Not because he was a hero, because he wasn't. But the world needed Green Arrow, and all of those other real heroes, much more than it needed some punk kid who barely knew who he was anymore.

"It just belongs to some guy that I met today." Cameron answered. It wasn't exactly a lie. Sure, today technically hadn't been the first time he had met Oliver, but he couldn't really remember the other times, so it counted.

"Why would somebody that you only met today endanger himself to protect you?" Luthor asked, the suspicion in his voice made it clear that he knew that there was more to this.

Cameron shrugged. "How should I know? The guy's a freak. Guess he felt responsible for me or something." Cameron told a partial truth again, because something his father had taught him once was that the most convincing lies were those that were layered with truth.

Apparently it wasn't convincing enough because the next thing he knew Cameron felt another shock from the collar. It was stronger and lasted longer than the one before. Cameron cried out in pain and his muscles grew tense because of the electrical shock.

"W-what the hell?" Cameron groaned when the shock finally let up. He looked at Luthor with wide eyes. "What was that for?"

"I suggest you begin telling me what I want to know." Luthor said, his finger hovering just over the button.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Cameron cried out desperately. Obviously telling only half truths wasn't working, so Cameron turned to a different strategy for keeping something a secret. He remembered his dad telling him that if he couldn't tell somebody what they wanted to know, that he should tell them what they _expected._

After Cameron's little screw up earlier that night Luthor and the rest of The Light probably saw him as just some weak, scared kid who couldn't handle pressure. While it wasn't the reputation that Cameron would want, maybe he would be able to use it to his advantage.

If he acted like the helpless kid who was in way over his head that Luthor thought that he was, maybe it would get the man off his back. Maybe he could convince Luthor that he really didn't know anything.

Unfortunately, Luthor wasn't convinced yet. For the third time he activated the collar and, once again, Cameron was subjected to the electricity it caused. This one was even more powerful than the previous ones, and the pain caused Cameron to fall to his knees. He clenched his teeth and waited for the shock to stop, but it just kept on going.

Just before the pain became too much to bare and Cameron was sure he would end up blacking out again, the shock mercifully stopped. Exhausted, Cameron's still convulsing body fell to the ground. He couldn't move. He could barely think. He could only lay there helplessly, completely at Luthor's non-existent mercy.

Cameron thought that Luthor must be speaking to him, repeating his previous questions, but he couldn't understand his words. Cameron's ears were ringing, and his pounding headache had only gotten worse. He just wanted all of this to stop, and for this very long, painful night to just end already.

After a moment Cameron heard another pounding, different from the one inside his head. No, this one sounded real. It almost sounded like somebody was trying to break the door down, but that was ridiculous. Who would possibly-

With a final loud strike the door was broken open. Cameron's head cleared ever so slightly when he saw who had kicked the door down, and he could barely believe his eyes.

"A-artemis?" Cameron said quietly in disbelief.

" _Cam!_ " Yep. That was definitely Artemis. She ran to his side and knelt next to him. "God, what happened to you?" Artemis asked as she helped Cameron up to his feet. "You're shaking."

"I'm fine." Cameron muttered. He tried to pull away from Artemis but his limbs weren't cooperating and he nearly ended up falling over again. Fortunately Artemis was right there to catch him.

"That's bullshit." Artemis said. She snapped her gaze to Luthor who seemed to be watching the two of them in amusement. "What did you do to him?" Artemis asked accusingly.

"I was simply asking him some questions." Luthor said.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like you were doing." Artemis said sarcastically, the venom dripping from her voice.

"I admit, I took more - how shall I say it? - drastic measures than was possibly necessary. But I had to ensure that I got the answers that I was looking for." Luthor said.

"And did you?" another voice asked and Cameron groaned when he heard it. He hadn't noticed that the Dick brat had come with Artemis.

"Unfortunately, no." Luthor said, though his tone suggested otherwise. "I am convinced that your friend doesn't know the information that I am looking for." If Cameron had been more aware of things, he might have noticed the deceitful look in Luthor's eyes. As it was though, Cameron was too tired to notice or care.

"If that's the case, do you really think that the inhibitor collar is still necessary?" Dick asked.

"Of course not." Luthor pushed a different button on the remote and the collar deactivated. Cameron could feel the use of his powers return and he gasped at the sudden return of the chill he was so used to. The first thing Cameron did once he was able to use his powers again was freeze and shatter the collar off, just like he had tried to do in the first place. "I hope there are no bad feelings between us." Luthor looked Cameron in the eyes. "This was just business, after all. Nothing personal."

"Yeah, sure." Cameron knew that the words were bullshit, but he didn't let his hostility show. Artemis on the other hand wasn't bothering to hide her anger in the least bit and Cameron practically had to hold her back so she wouldn't attack Luthor, because that wouldn't end well at all.

Luthor pocketed the now useless remote and the blunt arrow. He turned to leave but just before exiting the room he looked back at Cameron. "You may want to know that The Light has made its decision. Come and find us when you're ready to hear it." And he left without saying or explaining anything more.

Cameron sighed in relief and slumped forward once Luthor had left. That had not been a pleasant experience, and Cameron was relieved that it was over.

"He's such a jerk." Artemis said as she continued to glare at the doorway. "I seriously hate that guy."

"Everybody does." Cameron muttered as he rubbed at his sore neck. The skin felt raw and slightly burned, but he was sure that it would heal. Artemis' eyes softened and she looked at Cameron's injury in concern. She lifted her hand and ever so gently touched Cameron's neck, and even though the touch was soft Cameron still flinched when her skin came in contact with his.

"That looks like it hurts." Artemis commented. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Cameron looked at Artemis sorrowfully. "What about you?" He could feel that her skin was much colder than it should have been. The ice in her veins had obviously progressed, and it pained Cameron that he had done this to her. And yet, even though she was the one who was dying, she was still concerned only about Cameron's wellbeing. That was just so like her.

"Me? I'm just a little cold. It's fine." Artemis said, though Cameron knew that it couldn't be further from the truth. No, she was not fine. And it was all his fault. Artemis must have seen the guilt in Cameron's eyes. "Hey, don't do this to yourself, Cam. This is not your fault."

What was she talking about? Of course it was his fault! "But I-" Cameron tried to disagree with her, but Artemis wasn't hearing it.

"No." She said insistently. "It was an accident, got it?" Cameron did and said nothing, and Artemis' gaze grew fiercer. "Got it?" She repeated, her voice firmer and leaving no room for arguments.

"Whatever." Cameron sighed in defeat. "What are you doing here anyways?" He asked, because it was kind of weird that she had shown up when she had.

"What do you think?" Artemis chuckled. She shoved at Cameron's arm playfully. "I came to help you, Frostbite." Cameron couldn't help but grin at the old nickname that Artemis had given him when they were little. She probably hadn't even known what frostbite was at the time, but she had heard somebody else call him it once, and decided to adopt the nickname for use herself. Cameron hadn't heard her call him that in years, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed it.

"How did you know I needed help?" Cameron asked. He hadn't thought that anybody had known where he was, let alone that he was in trouble.

"Oliver told us." Dick said from the corner, which annoyed Cameron to no end. Seriously, what was that kid doing here?

"You know Oliver?" Cameron raised an eyebrow at Dick, who smirked in return.

"I've known him for years." Dick said.

"So, you know that he's-" Cameron trailed off, because he didn't know for sure that Dick knew that Oliver was Green Arrow. In fact, it was a pretty big assumption.

"Yeah, I know who he is." Dick said. "That's actually how I know him in the first place." Cameron's eyes widened. Apparently he had assumed correctly in thinking that Dick knew just who Oliver was, which was absolutely insane. Was this kid involved with The Justice League? Not for the first time that night Cameron wondered just who the _hell_ this Dick kid was.

"Speaking of Oliver, that reminds me." Artemis said and, without any other warning, she punched Cameron in the arm. Hard.

"Ow." Cameron rubbed at where she had hit him. "What was that for?"

"That was for you being an idiot." Artemis said, and Cameron frowned at her tone of voice. It sounded like she was trying to sound angry, but Cameron thought he could hear a slight quiver of fear in her voice. "Seriously, Cam, stop trying so hard to protect people. Especially when it just ends with you being the one in pain."

"I don't like seeing other people in pain, Arty." Cameron said. "Especially if it's my fault."

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I feel the same way?" Artemis took Cameron's hands. "I don't like seeing you hurt, Cam. And, yeah, this hate thing you have towards yourself counts as you hurting."

Cameron grimaced. "I-i don't…" He gasped slightly and looked to the side, avoiding Artemis' gaze. "I can't help the way that I feel about myself."

"I know." Artemis admitted reluctantly. "But hey," She put her hands to Cameron's face and forced him to meet her eyes. "Maybe I can help change that. Please, Cam, don't push me away anymore. Let me help you. Please."

Cameron didn't know if it was because of his exhaustion, or all of his emotions that he had tried to keep bottled up for so many years had come up to the surface. Maybe it was just Artemis' sincere desire to help him. Whatever the reason, Cameron felt a wave of emotion come over him and, for once in his life, he acted on what his feelings were telling him to do.

He kissed Artemis.

Cameron could feel her stiffen slightly in surprise when his lips came in contact with hers, but after barely a moment she leaned into the kiss. A feeling came over Cameron like none he had ever felt before. He was actually kissing Artemis, which was something he had dreamed of doing for years now. Even better, she was actually kissing him back!

The strange feeling in Cameron grew and, next thing he knew, he felt a strange cold feeling against his mouth. Artemis must have felt the cold too because she gasped and pulled away, staring at Cameron in shock.

"What was that?" Artemis asked. Cameron shook his head. He seriously had no idea. Had he accidently ended up using his powers?

"I don't know. Are you okay though?" Cameron asked. "I mean, your mouth's not cold or anything, is it?"

"No, it's actually-" She paused and felt her lips with her fingertips. A slight smile came over Artemis' face. "It feels warm."

"Warm?" Cameron was taken aback. Because of what he had done to her earlier that night no part of her body should be feeling warm, so why…wait a second.

"No way." Cameron muttered. Artemis looked at him curiously.

"What?" She demanded. Cameron shook his head.

"Does just your mouth feel warmer than before?" Cameron asked.

"No. Just in general I feel warmer." Artemis said. "Still cold, but not freezing anymore."

"Are you serious?" Cameron laughed. He put his hands to his mouth. "Oh my god. I don't believe it. Oliver was right."

"What are you talking about?" Artemis asked. Cameron bit his lip and looked at her.

"I think I might undone part of what I did to you earlier." Cameron said.

"Wait, you can do that?" Artemis asked, a slight note of awe in her voice.

"Apparently." Cameron shrugged. "I'm not sure how though. I mean, all I did was...was kiss you."

Artemis smirked slightly. "So why don't you just kiss me again?"

Cameron's mouth fell open. "I...what?" Had he heard her right. "No, I-i don't think that's completely necessary." He stammered slightly. "I mean, not that I don't want to, but if you don't really want me to then I should be able to find a different way to reverse it the rest of the way. I don't even know if k-kissing you would even work again. I mean, you know, it might, but-" Cameron would have rambled on for even longer, but Artemis put her fingers to his lips, silencing him.

"Shut up, Frostbite." Artemis said fondly. "Just shut the hell up." She leaned forward and began kissing him again, more passionately than before. Cameron wrapped his arms around Artemis and pulled her closer. He expressed through the kiss the emotions and feelings that he just couldn't figure out how to explain with his words.

The kiss was...amazing. And absolutely beautiful. Just like Artemis was. What really thrilled Cameron was that he knew that Artemis wasn't just kissing him because it might get rid of the ice in her veins. She was kissing him because she wanted to.

And nothing had ever made Cameron feel so happy in his life.

Huh...maybe it wasn't so bad to show emotion sometimes after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artemis' line "Shut up, Frostbite, just shut the hell up" comes from the comics (not the Young Justice ones). I don't know why, but I absolutely love that line just being their romantic thing. It just feels so them.


	15. Chapter 15

Dick let out a sigh and smiled slightly at the sight of Cameron and Artemis together. Dick barely knew these two, but he was happy for them. It was obvious that the two of them really liked each other. In fact, Dick may have just met them both that night, but he had still known about their feelings towards each other. It had been more than obvious to him, though probably less than obvious to each other.

Either way, it really was a good thing that Cameron and Artemis had gotten together. After all, everybody deserved happiness. Even if some people didn't think they did.

Watching the two of them together though, Dick couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Artemis had gotten back with her childhood friend, and that was exactly what Dick wanted. Sure, he knew that Wally, and the rest of his old teammates, were still alive, and that was honestly the best news that Dick had ever heard, but he wanted more.

He wanted them to know who he really was.

It was just...really hard to try to figure out how to tell them.

Actually, Dick was pretty sure that he just needed to figure out how to tell _one_ of his old friends who he really was. Just before he and Artemis had ridden off Ray had told him "Don't expect me to tell Wally your little secret, Bat Brat. That's something you'll have to do yourself."

So, on the bright side, Dick didn't have to worry about convincing Roy of who he was. With any luck, the archer would tell the rest of their friends who he was. On the not so bright side though, Dick still had to be the one to talk to Wally.

Dick was both dreading and looking forward to that conversation.

"Hey, Dick, you doing okay over there?" Artemis' voice cut through. Dick blinked and shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just-" Dick let out a small, slightly nervous, laugh. "I was just thinking about something."

"Was it Wally?" Artemis smirked, her hands on her hips.

"Who's Wally?" Cameron raised an eyebrow. He must've found it strange that Artemis, who had been stuck in the same house practically all her life, suddenly met all these new people in one night.

"Another kid that knows Oliver." Dick said, which was his way of telling Cameron that Wally was involved with The Justice League too. Cameron's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" Cameron turned to Artemis. "How do you keep on running into these guys?"

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Artemis admitted and Dick nodded in understanding. Right. Artemis wouldn't know anything about The Justice League.

"We'll explain everything to you later." Dick promised. "Just not here." It would be a very bad idea for them to talk about The Justice League while they were still in a place where many villains, including The Light, were.

"Or at least not now." Cameron added with a scowl. He glared out the window. "It's way too crowded in this house. Either of you have any idea when everybody will just leave already?"

"Probably when they find out what The Light's decision concerning you was." Dick pointed out. "I mean, that's what everybody came here for."

"Right." Cameron sighed and frowned. "I guess we should probably go find out what they decided on, huh?" It was clear that meeting with The Light was the last thing that Cameron wanted to do, but he knew that putting it off wouldn't do any good at all. Cameron probably wanted to just get this over with.

"Are you ready to face them?" Artemis asked, her expression full of concern. Cameron chuckled slightly.

"Not in the least bit." Cameron chuckled slightly. He looked at her and smirked. "Let's do this." Artemis smiled at him fondly and took his hand. She turned to Dick.

"You coming with us?" She asked. Dick opened his mouth to respond but stopped when out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a streak flashing toward the small mountain just outside Star City. The same mountain where his old team's base was. Dick grinned slightly to himself.

It looked like Wally had returned from his run. Knowing Roy, he would probably just send Wally straight in this direction. It was time for the two of them to have their little chat.

"Nah, I think I'll stick around here for a bit." Dick said. "You two behave yourselves though." He said it in a teasing voice, but he was being at least half serious. Losing one's temper in front of The Light was not a very good idea, especially not at a time like this.

"Alright, come find us when you're done with whatever you're up to." Artemis said as she and Cameron left the room. Dick waited a few moments after they were gone before going to the window and opening it. Using his training he skillfully climbed from the window up to the roof where he could see the whole city beneath him.

Dick grinned slightly to himself. Yeah, he was anxious about what he would say to Wally, but he was also excited. He _wanted_ Wally to know who he was, even if he had to deal with figuring out how he would go about revealing it.

It was just a few minutes later that he saw the streak again, leaving the mountain and coming in this direction. He tried to ignore the nervousness and anticipation that was building up in his chest. Dick knew that stressing out and thinking too deeply about this would just make everything worse. He just had to be natural and let what happens happen.

Dick stood up and hoped that Wally could see him and would just come straight up here rather than go inside. Villain gatherings didn't really take too kindly to intruders. Besides, Dick would really rather not have to go looking for Wally.

Fortunately it seemed that the speedster had seen him, because as he got closer to the building Wally showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, it seemed like he sped up. Dick had a fairly good idea of what Wally was going to try to do so he backed up a bit to give him some room, but made sure to not be too far away, in case Wally needed help.

Even though Dick had been expecting it, it was still surprising and thrilling to see Wally not even slow down in the least bit when he reached the walls of the house, running up them instead. Running up a vertical wall was a lot different than running across flat ground, and it took a lot of speed. The last time Dick had seen Wally he had been able to make it up about one story before losing momentum and beginning to fall.

Apparently Wally had gotten even better in their years apart because he made it past the first floor easily and only began losing his momentum and footing midway past the second floor. With a final burst of speed Wally was able to push himself up the rest of the way onto the roof. It certainly wasn't an effortless climb, but it didn't look like it had been all that difficult for the speedster either. It looked like Wally really had improved, which was quite impressive considering he would have had to teach himself these past three years.

"You must go pretty fast if you can run up the side of a building." Dick complimented. Wally flashed him a grin as he caught his breath.

"Well, I am the fastest boy alive." Wally bragged. "If you thought that was impressive though, you should just see me on a good day when I'm not holding back. I can almost scale a building twice this size." Dick could tell by Wally's tone of voice that he was exaggerating a bit, but it was still impressive.

"Seriously?" Dick grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Can you phase through walls yet?" Though he was almost positive that he knew the answer to that.

Wally frowned and looked at the ground, a flush of embarrassment coming to his cheeks. "No." He grumbled, obviously disappointed about it.

"Don't worry about it." Dick laughed and shoved Wally playfully. "I didn't think you had yet. I mean, I know it's been years, but the last time I know you tried you ended up getting a nosebleed." It was a memory that he still laughed about to this day.

"Yeah, I...wait." Wally's eyes widened and he looked at Dick with a look of shock and slight wariness. "How did you know about that?"

Dick's grin softened. He completely understood Wally's concern, considering that nobody else, not even his uncle Barry, knew about the one time he had tried, and failed, to phase through a wall. The only person that Wally had ever told had been him, Robin. So of course he would be confused by someone that he thought was almost a total stranger knowing something like that.

Dick sat down again and gestured for his friend to do the same. "Wally, I...I have something that I need to tell you."

Wally barely hesitated before sitting next to him. "Roy said something about you needing to talk to me."

"Yeah, he already knows." Dick laughed humorlessly. "I've been trying all night to figure out how to tell you, but I could never find the words."

"You don't seem like the type of person to get tongue tied." Wally said. Dick shook his head.

"I'm usually not." He sighed and looked at Wally.

"Well, whatever you have to say, just say it." Wally suggested. "I hope that whatever your secret is will somehow explain how you knew about the wall phasing thing. Wait a second-" Wally's eyes widened as a sudden idea came to mind. "Are you a meta-human too? Can you read minds or something? I have a friend that can do that." He said this last part really quickly, which caused Dick to chuckle slightly. He had almost forgotten that Wally spoke super fast sometimes when he was nervous or excited.

"No, I'm not a meta-human." Dick gave one last laugh before becoming serious again. "I know about the phasing thing because I know _you._ I've known you for a long time."

"So, today wasn't the first time we met?" Wally clarified. Dick nodded and Wally grinned. "I thought you looked kinda familiar. But, wait…" Wally's grin fell away again into a thoughtful frown. "Even if you do know me, the only person that knows about that is…"

"Robin?" Dick said quietly. Wally took in a short gasp of breath and there was just so much pain and confusion in his eyes that Dick felt his own breath catch in his throat. He was going about this all wrong and just making things worse. Dick decided to just make things easier for both of them and stop beating around the bush already. He was just going to come out and tell Wally who he was.

Except, he couldn't.

"Oh, god." Dick groaned and grabbed at his hair in frustration. It should be so easier. He just had to tell Wally "I'm Robin." Why was something so simple being so complicated? He could keep cool and calm in the face of danger, but he couldn't tell his best friend who he really was. How messed up was that? He didn't even know why he was holding back. "This shouldn't be so hard." His voice cracked slightly at the last word. Wally looked over at him in concern, but then snorted in laughter a bit.

"Look at us." Wally laughed, even though they both knew that there was nothing funny about this. "We're both getting so distraught over nothing."

Dick took in a deep breath and chuckled slightly too. "I guess we both need to get traught."

"Get traught?" Wally's eyes flashed with recognition, as well as complete and total disbelief. There was only one person he knew who ever said something like that. "...Robin?"

Dick tried to smirk, but it came off as more of a grimace. "Surprised?"

"But...how…" Wally stammered a bit as his mind tried to come to terms with Dick being Robin, who he had thought to be dead. Dick thought it might take a while to process, and longer still to convince Wally entirely that it was really him and not just a trick or a trap. What Dick hadn't expected though was what Wally did next.

The redheaded speedster used his powers to zoom straight into Dick, knocking them both over. For an insane second Dick was worried that Wally had attacked him or something. It took him a second to realize that his friend was actually embracing him, tightly.

"Wally, are you-" Dick began to say.

"I knew you weren't dead!" Wally exclaimed. "The others told me that I was crazy, but I couldn't stop thinking that you were still alive."

"Me either." Dick said as he returned Wally's embrace and held his friend tight. For a while the two of them were perfectly content just lying on the roof together. Eventually Wally pulled away, but only so he could look Dick in the eyes.

"Where have you been all this time?" Wally asked, this time it was his voice that cracked slightly with emotion. "What happened to you?"

"Those are the exact questions that I've been wondering about you guys." Dick laughed at the irony. "All of us thought that you guys were dead."

"All of us?" Wally asked quietly, his eyes filled with hope. "You mean-"

"The others are alive." Dick grinned. "The entire Justice League. We just let the whole world think that we were dead so that The Light wouldn't suspect anything." Dick paused for a moment and grew quiet. "We never guessed that you guys were doing the exact same thing."

"This is insane." Wally ran a hand through his hair. "Where have you guys been this whole time?" He asked again.

"In Gotham." Dick answered. "I mean, not everybody stays there all the time. Those who have secret identities that are still a secret just went back to their civilian lives, but for the others, they're kinda just chilling in Gotham. Like how you guys are all here in Star City?"

"Gotham?" Wally tilted his head slightly, a grin coming to his face. "What, are you guys all staying at The Batcave or something?" He meant to say it as a joke, but when he saw the smirk on Dick's face Wally realized that that was exactly what they were doing and he burst into laughter. Dick joined in the laughter too, because it was kinda funny.

"Wow, Gotham." Wally said with a shake of his head once he had calmed down. "Even if the villains thought that the league was still around, that would be the last place they would think to look. All that crime going on and no costumed heroes jumping out to stop it?"

"Gotham's not actually so bad anymore." Dick commented. "I mean, yeah, it's really bad, but the whole world is kinda like that right now."

"Yeah." Wally frowned, a distant look in his eyes, as if he knew all too well just how messed up the world was. The two of them fell into silence. Nothing more was said between them. They just sat quietly and looked out at the city beneath them. Some time later Dick noticed some people, villains, leaving the building. More and more people followed them, some more violently than others.

"Those guys don't look very happy." Wally pointed out as one guy who must've had powers of some sort punched at a nearby telephone pole so hard that he caused it to crash to the ground. "Something good must've happened."

"I bet they're not very happy with who The Light must have decided on to run the city." Dick stood up and offered a hand out to Wally. "Wanna go downstairs and find out for ourselves?" Dick could take a pretty good guess on what The Light had decided on, based on what everybody's reaction seemed to be. What he was curious about though was the reason behind that decision.

"Sure, why not?" Wally shrugged and took Dick's hand. Despite having been the one to have made the suggestion, Dick made them wait a few more minutes until they went downstairs. The less angry villains around for them to deal with, the better. Finally, after he was pretty sure that most of the people had left, Dick led Wally down the roof and back into the house by means of the study window.

Because the second floor seemed to be abandoned at the moment, the two teenagers made their way downstairs in hopes of finding Cameron or Artemis. Dick found it strange that Wally, who usually prefered to run ahead, was actually following _him,_ instead of it being the other way around. Dick didn't know if this was because Wally saw him in a place of leadership somehow, or if he just wanted to stick by his side. Either way, Dick was grateful that Wally was staying close to him this time. The last thing Dick wanted was a repeat of what happened three years ago.

Sure, it wasn't likely that something was going to happen. But hey, anything was possible, and he didn't want to risk it.

Dick led the way into the main room, which looked a lot bigger now that it wasn't nearly as crowded. The only people that were actually in the room were Cameron, who looked relieved, Artemis, who looked extremely ticked off, and The Rogues who were talking to them. Well, at least, the adult Rogues were talking to Cameron. The younger Rogues seemed content with just sitting on the ground. Dick was amused to see that Trickster was trying, and failing, to get Pied Piper to play 'rock, paper, scissors' with him.

Dick began to head toward the others, but Wally pulled him back, looking like he didn't want to be seen or noticed at all.

"He, uh, maybe I should just wait outside?" Wally whispered so the others wouldn't hear.

"What's up?" Dick asked just as quietly. Right after he voiced the question the answer came to him. The Rogues were Flash's group of villains, so Wally would have regularly fought them years ago. Of course he would be hesitant about being in such close proximity to them now.

"Don't worry." Dick reassured his friend. "I'm sure they won't recognize you. They don't know your secret identity." Well, there was always the possibility that they might, but the chances of these Rogues knowing that Wally was Kid Flash was extremely…

"Uh, about that." Wally grimaced slightly. Dick's jaw dropped.

"They know your secret identity?" Dick hadn't been expecting that. "Which ones?" There was no way that every single one of The Rogues knew that Wally was...

"All of them?" Wally said hesitantly.

" _All_ of them?" Dick forced himself to keep his whisper quiet so only Wally could hear him. "What did you and your uncle do? March up to your villains and just tell them who you really were?"

"Uh, not exactly?" Wally's tone suggested that that was almost exactly what they had done. Wally held up his hands and continued talking before Dick could berate him. "I can explain." Dick stayed quiet and crossed his arms, waiting. Wally thought for a minute before just saying. "We have a very different relationship."

"That's an understatement." Dick groaned. He took Wally's hand and began to drag him out of the room. Wally had always been naturally kind and trusting to everybody, and that was one thing that Dick really liked about him. But he planned on having words with Wally about trusting villains.

And, oh man, Bruce was going to be giving Wally and Barry a hard time about this. No doubt about that.

Just when the two of them thought they would get out of the room unnoticed, they were called out.

"Hey, Grayson, where're you going?" Both teenagers froze in their tracks. Dick turned around while Wally attempted to not so subtly hide his face.

"Hey, Piper." Dick greeted the teenage villain. He and Trickster were both looking at him and Wally with interest, though Pied Piper definitely seemed the more intrigued of the two.

"I've told you before, Grayson, the name's Hartley." The Rogue rolled his eyes. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

So Hartley's interest had been in Wally. That...wasn't very good. "Him? He's just an old friend." Dick said, hoping that Hartley would drop it. Wally ducked his head, which just caused Hartley to smirk.

"He seems shy." Hartley stood up and walked closer to them, smiling kindly when Wally instinctively took a step back. "It's cute."

Oh. Hartley was interested in Wally in _that_ kind of way. If Dick wasn't so worried about these guys possibly recognizing Wally, he would have laughed about the situation. It was pretty amusing how Wally's face went red at Hartley's words.

The Trickster, _James Jesse_ Dick reminded himself, pouted. James glared at Wally, as if he had personally offended him. The angry look though quickly became one of confusion and curiosity, and Dick got the sudden feeling that they were in trouble.

James quickly got to his feet and ran over till he was literally face to face with Wally, their noses just inches apart. James just stood there, staring at Wally, studying him. The speedster didn't dare to move. He stood completely motionless, his eyes not leaving James'. After a minute James' eyes widened and he finally took a step back, giving Wally a little more space to breath.

James continued to just stare at Wally, though it was more in shock now. His mouth was open, but, for a while, no words came out. Finally James was able to bring himself to whisper two simple, seemingly meaningless words.

"...Baby Flasher?"

The room seemed to freeze. James had spoken quietly, but everybody had heard him and they were all looking in the teenager's direction. The Rogues all had different reactions to what James had said, though none of them were directed toward Wally. All of their attention was on their youngest team member.

Heat Wave and Captain Boomerang looked exasperated with him, as if James had done something like this before and they were beyond sick of it. Mirror Master also looked tired of this whole deal, though he seemed more concerned than angry. Golden Glider and Hartley both just looked at James pityingly. Captain Cold's expression was unreadable.

"James, we've talked about this." Hartley said as if he was speaking to a young child. He gently took James' arm to pull him aside, but James snatched his arm away from Hartley's grasp and stepped away from him.

"N-no!" James cried out and glared at Hartley. "It's him, Hart. This isn't like those other times. It's really him this time. Baby Flash is alive!"

"No, kid, he's not." Heat Wave growled from across the room. "Get over it already."

"Shut up!" James screamed and covered his ears with his hands so he wouldn't have to listen to anything else. His eyes were shut tight so he couldn't see anything either. James was shaking slightly, and looked just seconds away from completely losing it.

Wally frowned as he saw James break down. He looked at Dick apologetically and went to James' side. Wally put his hand on the distressed teenager's back in a supporting and comforting way. James didn't even react to the contact at all.

"James." Wally tried to get his attention. They all knew that James could hear him, but he kept his ears covered and pretended that he hadn't. "James, look at me." Wally said sternly, but not unkindly. Ever so reluctantly James opened his eyes to meet Wally's. The redhead smiled at him.

"There we go." Wally also spoke to James as if he were talking to a child, though he didn't sound nearly as patronizing as Hartley had. Wally's voice was just calm, gentle, and kind. "James, we've talked about how you can't just hide from the world like that and hope that your problems will just go away. Things don't work like that." Wally paused and tilted his head a bit. "And I'm pretty sure I've told you not to call me that. Multiple times."

"Sorry Wally." James apologized and looked at the ground in shame. A moment later his head snapped back up and he stared at Wally with wide eyes and a grin on his face. "Oh my gosh. Wally! I knew it was you! I knew that you were Baby Flash." James hugged a laughing Wally tightly. Everybody else in the room looked on in disbelief.

Dick groaned and put a hand to his head. What the heck was Wally thinking? He was literally announcing to his rogues that he was still alive. Why would he do that? Honestly, Dick was curious. Wally had said that he had had a different kind of relationship with his rogues, and if watching James' reaction was anything to judge by, Dick would totally believe it. And Wally, though reckless at times, wasn't a total idiot. He wouldn't reveal who he was to his villains unless he was absolutely sure they could be trusted.

So, for some reason, Wally felt like his villains were the trustworthy type. Dick honestly couldn't wait to see more. To see how all of the other rogues would react to what Wally had just revealed. So far they seemed frozen in shock, which was understandable, but if any of them made any move to harm Wally in any way, Dick would be right there to take them down.

"...Is that really you, Kid?" Hartley was the first to snap out of the shock. He approached Wally, who was still being hugged by James.

"Yeah, it's me." Wally grimaced as James' tight hug got even tighter. "Mind helping me out here?" It took a little work, but Hartley somehow succeeded in getting James to let go.

"I don't know." Heat Wave crossed his arms and glared at Wally. "It might be a trick."

"Chill, Mick." Captain Cold admonished his fire themed teammate. "We all know that if this was a trick, James would be the first to recognize it as such." He smirked at Wally. "Well well, West, it's been a while."

Wally smirked right back at him. "Way too long, Len." He agreed.

With their leader having accepted that Wally really was Kid Flash, the rest of The Rogues soon followed. Some of them (such as Heat Wave and Captain Boomerang.) still looked doubtful, but they seemed to at least be considering the possibility.

Soon all of The Rogues were surrounding Wally, not to attack him as somebody would expect, but to _talk_ to him. Dick was completely taken aback by this. All of these guys, these _villains_ , find out that an enemy of theirs who has been dead for the past three years is actually still alive, and they practically greet him with open arms. Talk with him as if they're all old friends or something.

Seriously, Wally was not kidding when he said that he and The Rogues had a different kind of relationship.

It was strange though. Dick could swear that he remembered multiple times when he had either heard of or even seen a battle between The Rogues and the speedsters. During their battles the villains had legitimately seemed like they had been trying to defeat Flash and Kid Flash, even kill them. At yet here they were, off the battlefield, acting like pals.

Was this normal for them?

By the way Wally was acting, Dick would guess it was.

"Hey, Kid, where've ya been hidin' all this time?" Captain Boomerang asked, partially because he was curious and partially because he was still suspicious.

"Around." Wally shrugged and didn't really answer his question. "Like you said, we've been in hiding. It's kinda what you do when everybody thinks you're dead, and you want to keep it that way."

James frowned at his words and, without any warning whatsoever, punches Wally in the face, catching them all off guard. The Rogues seem just as shocked at their youngest member's actions as Dick felt, though a couple of them looked rather amused about it.

"Ow," Wally complained and rubbed a hand over his sore jaw. "James, what was that for?"

James crosses his arms and glares at Wally. "You died without our permission, and that's against the rules." James half whined and half scolded.

"What?" Wally looked at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. It's not like I did it on purpose."

"You just said that you did." James pointed out. "You said that when you died, you decided to stay dead. That was on purpose."

"Not very considerate of you, Kid." Mirror Master added. " _We're_ your villains, and yet you think that it's okay to let us think that some accident or outsider took you out? It's _our_ job to kill you. Nobody else deserves that privilege."

"You too, Sam?" Wally looked at all of his enemies. "Guys, things got out of hand and I had to make a decision."

"Well, it was a stupid decision." James said. "Also, you're grounded."

The snickers that Dick had been trying so hard to hide this whole time came out in full force. This was just too good. Wally's villains were scolding him for getting 'killed' by somebody that wasn't one of them. It was insane, and pretty freaking funny. Also, in a way, he got where they were coming from. He too was upset that Wally had really been alive these past three years when Dick had thought him to be dead. Sure, it hadn't really been Wally's fault, but still.

"James, you can't ground me. We're the same age." Wally tried to reason with him. "You're not my dad or uncle or anything."

"I don't care." James waved off Wally's logic. As an afterthought he added. "Oh, and Flasher's grounded too."

"Now you're just being ridiculous." Wally realized that trying to reason with James just wasn't going to work, so he turned to Captain Cold. "Len, tell James that he's being nuts."

"Actually, I think that grounding the two of you sounds like a pretty good idea." Captain Cold smirked and the rest of The Rogues nodded their agreement. Wally sighed and turned to Dick with wide, pleading eyes, begging him to step in and do something to stop this. Dick had other plans though.

"Sorry, KF, but I'm kinda with them on this." Dick said, causing Wally to groan.

"Traitor." Wally mumbled. James hugged him again.

"We're only doing this because we love you." James told him. Wally rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Yeah, I know." He said.

"Alright, enough of that." Captain Cold dragged James away from Wally. "It's time we get going." He looked at Wally slyly. "Think you can handle not getting yourself killed, or are we going to have to keep a closer eye on you?"

"I'll watch him." Dick promised. Captain Cold stared him down with cold eyes that would intimidate most people away, but Dick stood firm. He was completely serious about keeping an eye on Wally. Not just because he didn't want his friend to get kidnapped by The Rogues, even if it would be just to keep him safe. But also because Dick wanted to make sure that Wally was alive and safe just as much as The Rogues did.

After staring each other down for a moment Captain Cold smirked and shrugged. "He's all yours, kid. You'd better not let anything happen to him." The threat was clear, but unneeded.

"I won't." Dick swore.

"Guys, this is not necessary. I'm not a kid." Wally protested, but he was ignored.

"We'll see you around. And you," Captain Cold turned back to Cameron, who had been watching the whole exchange in amusement. "Don't let The Light get to you, and don't let your girl get to them either."

"I won't." Cameron looked meaningfully at Artemis. She crossed her arms and huffed, obviously displeased about something.

"Good luck." Captain Cold said to all of them before he began leading his rogues out. As they left Dick turned to Wally.

"You sure it's a good idea to just let them walk away like this?" Dick asked. Yeah, it didn't seem like The Rogues were all that dangerous, but they were still Wally's enemies. It was really risky to just let them leave when they knew something so important. Even if they didn't use the information to cause any real harm, one of them might let it slip to somebody who would.

"Right." Wally agreed. "Hey, Len!" He shouted to get their attention. Captain Cold stopped at the door and looked back at him. "I'd appreciate it if, you know, you guys didn't tell anybody."

Captain Cold smirked. "Tell them what?" He asked, and, just like that, he was gone. Wally, looking pleased with himself, turned to Dick.

"See? Everything's taken care of. They'll keep quiet." Wally said.

"If you say so." Dick shook his head. "Are those guys always like that?"

"Pretty much." Cameron shrugged.

"Yeah." Wally said at the same time.

Dick shook his head again, wondering just how Wally had gotten himself stuck with a whole group of enemies that couldn't decide whether they wanted to kill him or baby him. Deciding that it would be best to just not worry about it, Dick turned to Cameron.

"Well, you look pleased with yourself. What did The Light decide?" He asked.

"That Star City's all mine." Cameron smirked. Artemis elbowed him harshly, making Cameron grimace and add. "Okay, it's _basically_ all mine."

"That's great." Dick grinned. It really was good news. This had been precisely what The Justice League had been hoping for, except even better because it seemed that Cameron was considering actually joining them. A neutral party may be better than an enemy, but having an ally beats having a neutral party any day. "Are you going to have to work with anybody else?"

"Artemis, in a few years. Other than that, not really." Cameron said.

"Seriously?" Dick's eyes widened in disbelief. The Light rarely trusted just a single person with one of 'their' cities, and yet they basically just handed a large city like this one to a teenage. "Why would they do that?"

"For the same reason they picked Cam in the first place." Artemis growled. "Because they think he's weak and will be easy to manipulate and control. That's the only reason they're letting him do this."

Oh. So The Light had chosen Cameron because they believed that he would follow their every demand without question. That actually made a lot of sense. It also explained why Cameron was the only 'leader' of Star City, rather than having a partner. The Light probably feared that if Cameron had a partner, then they might try to take the city all for themselves.

As it was though, they didn't have anything to worry about. They believed that Cameron was too scared to defy them. The way The Light saw it, Cameron was the image of the leader of the city, but they were the ones ruling everything.

Cameron was just their pawn.

No wonder Artemis seemed so ticked off.

"Arty, I don't know what's you're getting so upset about." Cameron said.

"Seriously? Cam, they're just using you!" Artemis exclaimed. "You're a glorified member of their meta-human slave army." Yeah, he kinda was.

"Just as long as I don't have to wear that stupid collar, I'm cool with it." Cameron rubbed at his neck a bit and grimaced. "Besides, it doesn't really matter. I'm not really on their side, so why should I care what they think of me?"

Huh. Cameron was taking this whole 'joining The Justice League' thing in full stride. Maybe they should send Oliver out to be their main recruiter from now own, because whatever he had said to Cameron, it had apparently worked. Dick just hoped that the rest of the league would be cool with him joining.

Dick knew that some of them might have a problem with Cameron joining the league, either because he was too young (Superman) too male (Wonder Woman) or too 'evil' (practically everybody else.) Dick just hoped that anybody who had anything against Cameron joining the league would know better than to say it to his face. It would be stupid to turn away a potential ally. Especially if in doing so they pushed him into being just another enemy.

They had enough enemies as it was. They didn't need to make more.

Dick figured he should probably warn Cameron as to what to expect from the other heroes.

But that could wait until later. At the moment, Dick figured it was high time the league and the younger team reunited.

"So, you guys up for a trip to Gotham?" Dick asked.

* * *

Elsewhere, Lex Luthor smirked slyly as he looked at the blunt arrow in his hands, a plan already forming in his mind.

Did these so called heroes honestly think that he had believed in their demise so easily? Others may have been fooled by the simple charade, but Lex Luthor had not. He had always known that The Justice League was still out there. And now, he had the proof of their existence.

This arrow belonged to Green Arrow. There was no doubt about that.

Not only that, but it seemed as though the villains had a traitor in their midst as well.

That was just fine with Luthor. Let the heroes have this little victory. Let them believe that they had won the battle.

Because the war was far from over.


End file.
